Amicitia
by Kenhime
Summary: To know yourself. To avenge yourself. To kill yourself. Team 7 has always shared different goals from the very beginning. But in the end, they'll come to realize that their paths do converge after all, and that friendship will never be forgotten.
1. Discordant Harmony

_Things to be noted from Kenhime:_

_- Departure from the major fluff I've been known to write, but **I will keep to the canon mood of the Naruto manga as much as I can**_

_- A **major character death** before the start of the story, for the sake of the complicated story plot. This is **not** character-bashing._

_- Mature characters in their mid twenties, and an **alternate** storyline_

_- Slow updates for thorough writing and editing._

Title: Amicitia

Author: Kenhime

Genre: Angst, Drama, and Action

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Who gets to be with whom? Well, that power is in Kishimoto's hands. The song "I Must Be Dreaming" by Frou Frou doesn't belong to me either.

Warning: This is **strong NaruSakuSasu friendship, **and includes profanity.

* * *

Chapter 1 – Rudus Exposition: Discordant Harmony

The Sixth Hokage was not the sort to be confined inside his office room. The Leaf ninjas who reported to him often found him standing on the rooftop of the watchtower, gazing at the village or the Hokage Memorial, a look of fond reminiscence in his jubilant eyes. If not, he was most likely to be inside the Academy doing a routine 'check-up' on the classrooms, which was a cause of more havoc than what the students could have done themselves. It was especially ironic to see their revered leader being literally thrown out the window in the midst of deep-throated shrieks of rage. The window belonged to the classroom taught by good old Umino Iruka.

_Pay close attention_

The history of this vivacious Hokage, nicknamed the "Dead Last," was an incredible story of breaking the odds, one that was told repeatedly ever since his inauguration, perhaps even before, by the academy teachers to their class. He was the Fourth Hokage's legacy, a resented boy with the nine-tailed demon fox sealed on his bellybutton. Cast aside by others, he sought for glory and accomplishment, hoping to win the acknowledgement of the Konoha village. But he was a fortunate boy from the start, partly from this curse and partly because he was too damn stubborn to give up. Blessed by his three predecessors and two great teachers, he grew rapidly in strength until he could successfully manipulate the explosive chakra of the Nine Tails. Blessed by an obdurate will, he made many friends along his journey of life, changing lives as he went. When he reached his late twenties, he was chosen as the Fire Shadow, winning the vote among the Elder Council by a landslide. And if anyone had ever scoffed before at his dream, no one laughed now because this dream was no longer a joke. Contrary to his nickname (given by his old companions), he was recorded as the strongest shinobi in the history of Konoha.__

_Don't listen to me from now_

These accomplishments, however, came with a price; when his dream was realized and he was finally recognized, he was also forced to accept the massive responsibility it placed on his shoulder. As the Sixth Hokage, he could no longer enjoy the battle adrenaline of the missions and the camaraderie of his teammates; they were replaced by huge stacks of paper he had to deal with everyday and administrative shinobi who chose the sedentary life. He was the pillar of Konoha, and protocol required him to stay stationary often times, even if he was proclaimed the strongest in the village. Where his past experiences had not sobered the hot-headed young man, the realities of being Hokage seemed to have.

In spite of this, he remained exuberant as ever, and very much the troublemaker. When he managed to escape the workload and the commitments, he would often visit the Academy to see his old teacher and rile up the students. It was his way of feeling young in an old title, of being that number one loud-mouthed, hyperactive ninja he once was. In fact, he still acted childish at times. No one knew how he could be so powerful and clever, and yet…so stupidly nice. Thus, the people of the Leaf have come to love him as much as their own families for his lively personality—and enemies have come to underestimate him for his moronic antics. It was a win-win situation for the twenty-six-year-old, and he was not even aware of it.

He had the natural talent to be a leader _and _an idiot, one woman thought conclusively.

She stormed up the stairs leading to the roof, a typhoon that everyone tried to evade as she passed. Some stood watching, frozen in both fear and awe, at the beauty she seemed to emit even in her fury. A goddess, they whispered about her. A beautiful, angry, _deadly_ goddess.

_George'll__ be flying this one_

But she did not care for their opinions like before. She was deeply preoccupied, and she had no heart to voice it out to anyone but one person. The guards wordlessly parted to allow her entrance to the door and she burst out into the open air, the doors banging as it rebounded, her hands on her hips. The subject of her thoughts was at the same exact place as she had thought he would be.

"_Naruto__…_"

_And it's anyone's guess how he does_

The dangerous inflection in her tone gave no indication to the blond Hokage of what she was about to do, and he pivoted away from the Memorial view to greet her with all smiles.

"Sakura-chan! What brings you here today?"

There was a distinctive twitch on her right eyebrow before her fingers deftly took hold of a senbon in her pouch and threw it at him in one fluid motion. The strongest ninja of the village barely had time to dodge the weapon. Briefly, Sakura enjoyed the sight of Naruto flailing his arms as he lost balance and crashed to the ground.

His eyes wide at how close he had been to being impaled by his best friend, Naruto scrambled to his feet and wondered when she had grown past the habit of punching him. At least the old attack had had a higher chance of survival than this new lethal tendency towards flying long needles. He winced, waiting tirade that always followed, but only silence came. When he glanced at her, his puzzled expression fell away to genuine worry.

"What's—"

"Let me go," she interrupted.

_This is the right turn, wrong universe_

"Go where?"

"You know what I'm talking about," she replied adamantly.

He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "I can't let you go. You've got some business to take care of back here, and since I'm gone, I'm counting on you to handle everything."

She looked away. "No, you're not. You were planning to give the job to Kakashi-sensei." Sakura's gaze trailed to the portraits of the Hokages, her usually sharp green eyes dulled with something akin to self-depreciation.

"Will you ever stop protecting me? I'm one of the anbu; can't you accept that?"

He was startled by her words, even though he had suspected she would say it when he had assembled the anbu force for the trip. The grin slipped off his face, and for once, his bright eyes held a hint of sadness. Where did his Sakura-chan go, the one who relied on him and…and that bastard?

"I thought maybe," she said hesitantly, "that by becoming one of the elite would make you realize that I can fight. I may not be as strong as you, but I am experienced as a ninja. I can do my job."

He watched her without a word, his head cocked slightly to the side. They had been friends for a long time, yet he could not help himself from looking at her as if for the first time. Despite her perpetual expression of weariness, Haruno Sakura was among the prettiest of Konoha, ethereal and glowing at the peak of her womanhood. Even back then, she had been beautiful. It had been difficult for him as a young boy to not be attracted to her, especially when they had shared the same longing to be acknowledged by others.

_Taking me in full bloom_

At this time and age, when they have gone very far on their paths to recognition, this was no longer a reason of attraction.

Then he spoke. "But I want you to stay here. You've just recovered from the mission four days ago. It's a long trip to Grass Country, Sakura." Only in the rarest of moments Naruto went without the '-chan': when he used the most serious and commanding tone he could muster.

"Shikamaru is assigned to the defense forces; I'm not needed back here. I want to help you." She locked his gaze with her own, her face stony with icy determination. "I'm going. Not even a hundred anbu will stop me."

Just as the words fled her mouth, Naruto's shuriken imbedded Sakura's chest. She staggered back, eyes wide with surprise, before there was a familiar poof of smoke, leaving an unfortunate piece of wood to drop to the floor. Naruto twisted to the side as a sandaled foot whipped past his head and he counterattacked with a punch. With swift grace, Sakura evaded his fist and attempted to land in another attack. In the chills of early morning, the two fought on top of the watchtower, never stopping the beautiful rhythm of taijutsu.

_Fireball_

Naruto did not enjoy fighting his former teammate and crush, but if the one hundred anbu would not prevent her from following him, then perhaps the strongest ninja would. But she left no opening for him. This, he thought with some innate pride, was the skill of a Leaf anbu.

For a kunoichi who had no shinobi background, she had carried high potential since the beginning. Late as she was in training, her talents were truly revealed soon after the bastard left, and she rose to jounin status faster than he could blink. In the space of a few more years, she would reach the second-highest level of skill—sennin. Yet as he expertly parried her blows and landed some of his own, his arms brushed with hers, and he felt the deep scabs of recent wounds that marred the soft flesh of her hands and arms. She had paid her price for this strength, pushing her body to the limits beyond most women. It was not right at all that she should torture herself; not worth it, he believed, for even vengeance.

_Careful with that there_

The bitter feeling seeped through his indomitable features and the moment was quickly taken advantage of by Sakura. She pulled his fist to her, swung her body in an arc, and elbowed him hard in the chest. The two of them fell to the floor, sprawled and breathless. The curtain of glossy pink hair touched Naruto's cheeks as Sakura brought a dagger close to his throat, the one she had taken from her pouch.

_See what you made me do_

"Not even you," she panted through her words.

Naruto growled. It was one thing to protect a person, but quite another thing when you were defeated by that very person. His eyes involuntarily stared at the triumphant smirk that stretched the girl's lips, and he felt a sudden strain in himself from exploring that naturally full and pink mouth.

_I must be dreaming or…_

"I won't let you go, Sakura," he said through clenched teeth. Her hair, lightly scented of blossoms, brushed his whiskered cheeks.

"Not in this case."

"Don't."

"I will." Her face was very near to his own, the resolute flame behind the jade depths unknowingly taunting his inner struggle.

_We're onto something _

"No."

"Yes." She was his best friend; best friends didn't kiss each other.

"You're being extremely stubborn."

"You idiot, who's the one who won?" For so long he had constrained himself successfully, but today he was losing grip on his self-control. There were too many things he wanted to say to her, too many thoughts and worries for her about this particular mission.

_I must be dreaming for…_

"I was easy on you."

"If I believe you, then pigs fly." Those lips… Naruto fought the good battle—and lost.

He broke into a seductive grin. "Pigs _do_ fly."

_I don't fall in love lawlessly_

Before she could retort, his head shot forward and his mouth crushed hers. She made a startled sound, her eyes widening, then settled to the feel of his lips against hers. She parted her mouth to allow his tongue entrance and their two tongues caressed each other's. Naruto's hand reached around her head to deepen the kiss. As a soft moan escaped from her, Sakura dimly remembered Sasuke saying that he tasted like miso…

_I must be dreaming or…_

She broke away, trembling. She caught the brief look of hurt when he opened his eyes; then it disappeared, hidden underneath his bitter smile. For fourteen years they had known each other and grown up together. She knew how handsome and sought after Naruto had become, her eyes always involuntarily watching his lean and tanned face, the way his skin crinkled and folded to fit the large grin he always gave to others. But no matter what she felt, she could not give him what he desired. It was not supposed to be this way, not after all that had happened before.

_Pinch me to waking_

Dangling at her wit's end, Sakura jammed the kunai into the floor next to Naruto's neck and sat up, the close contact broken. When she stood up, her hand stretched out to him. He shook his head in response and got up himself. As they dusted themselves off, Sakura felt his eyes on her. He said nothing, and his face was impassive, but his washed-out blue orbs betrayed him, clearly expressing the longing he felt inside. Her throat constricted, and she could barely breathe. She forced herself to keep her eyes averted, fearing the intoxication of his love.

_So undeniably yours_

After moments of awkward silence, she spoke again. "I know how much you care, but I…I don't want you to leave without me..." She dropped her head. "I can take care of myself, and I won't be a burden. After all, I'll be your sentinel. I'm not as weak…as I used to be."

He turned away to pick up his hat from the ground. "That's not what I mean, Sakura-chan. You're part of the hunter-nin division in the anbu. I know what you're thinking."

Her eyes widened. He walked past her, the large straw hat obscuring his eyes.

"We'll be leaving four in the morning tomorrow. Bring month-long provisions and necessary weapons with you." He looked over his shoulder, giving her one of his characteristic grins, ones that were so sincere and yet, so deceiving. And she knew it hid the misery inside of him.

_As long as I'm losing it so completely _

A grateful smile found its way to Sakura's face and she seized him in a hug from the back. "Thank you, Naruto."

"Be careful."

"I know…because I don't want to lose you either, not to him, not to anyone," she murmured. She gently kissed his cheek before letting him go, her pretty smile engraved into the deep recesses of his mind. "I should go before you change your mind, huh?"

And so she left him behind, the very same highly-esteemed Hokage…who happened to be in love with an ordinary girl.

* * *

Ignoring the bewildered protests of her younger sister, the Hyuga heiress hastily ran out the door, her hand lifting the hem of her restrictive kimono to allow more leg movement. The early morning held a cold but comforting solitude, and all that filled her ears were the heavy _clip-clops_ of her geta.

She was a dignified young woman who carried the weight of responsibility as the head of the Hyuga, coming unexpectedly into the role with much graceful strength and quiet determination and surprising those who had thought her unfit to fill the role. With short ivory black hair and a reserved silvery gaze, her exquisite beauty was a wintry contrast to Haruno Sakura's vibrant visage. And in character, unlike Sakura's penchant for fury, Hinata was mostly passive. However, that did not mean she was gullible in any way, for her keen sense of perception and intellect made her powerful among the leading kunoichi in Konoha. There were many young suitors who set their eyes on her, admirers who watched her every step with wistful thinking. Yet she held no interest in them. After much argument on her marriage prospects, her parents relented to her desire to wed freely and without ulterior motives. Thus, the person she wanted to be with the most ended up to be the most improbable person, and the most obvious to those who knew her well.

Even when she had known her chances were scarce, as he already had someone else to love.

But could she forget? Could her love subside to nothing more than a memory? She did not know, but the feeling for him in her heart was so overwhelming that at times she could not breathe at all, exhilarating and excruciating at the same time. This love was too deep in her to fade away because he gave her a reason, the strength of courage people praised her for, to bear her responsibilities, her power, and most of all, her life. He was everything she loved, and had wanted to be until now. And if she was asked the one thing she would always remember about Naruto, she would answer: his eyes. It was those eyes she had fell willingly in, the flames of blue that licked at her, sometimes warm and sometimes burning hot.

_Incendiary glance_

Cursing the constraints of her dress, she raced up the hill until the departing group appeared in the distance. She recognized the shock of blond hair among the dark-clothed anbu, and felt her heart pound when he turned to her direction. His eyes brightened considerably at her appearance and he jumped up and down, waving at her like the ecstatic twelve-year-old he once was.

"Hey Hinata! You came!" An expression of relief crossed her face; she made it in time.

"Naruto-kun!" She pushed herself to run faster, but she tripped over her clumsy wooden geta. Her eyes wide, she let out a yelp and her arms flailed, but Naruto came forward and caught her to keep her from falling. With his broad hands on her thin arms to steady her, he let out a good-natured chuckle at her flushed face.

_Be come and collide in me_

"You're graceful," he teased.

"T-thank you," stammered Hinata.

"I'm glad you came to see us off. Thank you for coming."

Smiling shakily back at his sincere words, she replied, "Since when did you become so considerate, Naruto-kun?"

He gave her a startled glance before he burst into laughter. "Since I've become Hokage; since I've met you," he shook his head, grinning, before he paused to watch a tide of crimson rush over her cheeks. "You know, Hinata, you look awfully cute when you're so red."

"I was just…caught off guard." Smiling timidly again, she averted her pale eyes to the floor in embarrassment; Naruto never ceased to make her blush with his simple compliments in the most unexpected circumstances.

_Zoom in, enhance_

Puzzled, he cocked his head at her before turning to survey his beloved home with a grin. "Well, we'll be leaving soon. After being trapped in there for so long, I won't be missing Konoha for a while."

"Are you sure the trip will be safe?" she asked, biting her lip.

"It's still too early to worry," he patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Besides, you're talking about the Hokage here! There's still a long way to go before I'll turn old."

"But I—"

"Lord Hokage," an anbu ninja interrupted, bowing promptly. "We are ready to depart."

Nodding, he turned back to Hinata, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I'll be fine, don't worry so much. You've got a clan to handle. And if anything does go wrong, I'm relying on you and rest of the village to be able to handle it without me."

"Naruto-kun…"

His brow furrowed slightly at the odd expression on her face. "What's wrong?"

Pushing away doubts and anxieties, she daringly stood up on tiptoe (he grew very tall!) to circle her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her. While Naruto was rendered speechless for those few precious moments, she relished the smell of him. It was a smell of the sweetest pinewood and the greenest leaves…

_While I go helplessly_

"Be—be careful, Naruto-kun," she whispered before letting go. "Farewell, and have a safe journey."

For a moment, his cerulean eyes were gentle to her affection, but it was soon replaced by his virtuous determination.

"I will."_  
_ She smiled. Indeed, she loved his eyes best of all... "I will wait for you…always."

His cheeks turned a faint shade of red, and he rubbed the back of his head modestly.

"I know."

* * *

_Sky high_

The ninja dropped down to his hunches before giving his feet an extra push of chakra to propel him high into the air. He landed on a far tree, stumbling a little in his panic, and continued to flee on the thick branch tops. He threw all shinobi protocol and wits away and ran with the bestial instinct of a wretch running for his life. His breaths came out ragged and slivers of sweat slid down his scarred face, where a fresh wound ran diagonal across his petrified expression. It came from a kunai that aimed to kill him in one sure slash, but thanks to his admirable reflexes had his hunter mask sliced in half instead.

However, he felt that he would have rather died swiftly than to be running, scared out of his mind.

But all of the sudden that…thing stopped its pursuit. For that split moment, he paused to look behind him, hoping in vain that the monster had given up on him. It only took that amount of time for the explosive force of chakra to materialize before him and catch him. When he turned back, he jumped back and clumsily slipped off the branch in his horror. Landing fifteen feet below, the impact great enough to break his spine, the hunter-nin realized the inevitability of his death. As the terrifying umbrage approached him, the ninja tried to shut his eyes, but his eyelids did not budge. His eyes remained wide open, inevitably caught by a spell in those demonic crimson eyes.

_Magic eye_

A scream wrecked the still air, and abruptly ceased when life's blood was shed.

"A weak prey," the predator's voice, scratchy and unused, spoke aloud. In the overbearing silence, the isolation of one who was feared, he sometimes needed to hear clear, coherent words when there was none; it kept him from falling deeper into the seas of insanity. Words were his only link to humanity, and of all things he had lost, he spared only that. His appearance was not even human. The white, almost translucent, color of his skin stressed the sable color of his hair and the startling red of his dispassionate eyes. To those on threshold of death, he was the infallible Death. In reality, Uchiha Sasuke was just a wasted wraith of a mere man.

The dagger was cleaned and quickly hidden underneath the folds of his shapeless black cloak that covered him from the neck down. He bent down over the dead body and pulled a scroll free from the leather straps of his uniform. Releasing the jutsu sealed in the scroll, the summoned vultures quickly swarmed around the carcass, traitorous to the hunter-nin they once served. As Sasuke walked away, he felt his body go stiff before a lightning jab of pain struck his chest and shook him. The prickling feeling, like having needles pressed into his skin, spread like fire through his senses, reminding him bitterly again that he was not a corpse yet. His body suffered spasms as the curse seal on his neck burned threateningly.

_Sugar rushing _

His hands convulsing, he groped around in his pocket for the small pouch of pills. A shaky sigh of relief escaped his chapped lips when he found the blasted bag and managed to grasp one round pill between his fingers. He pushed the drug into his mouth and weakly swallowed it. The side effects of the curse seal stopped as soon as it had come. In rare moments, Sasuke had asked himself whether or not it was necessary to have followed Orochimaru when he could have killed his brother without the ophidian sage. And in those times, he would not give himself an answer. Instead, he pushed on in his path.

_Don't stop_

Akatsuki had given him orders to track the Hokage down. It was long since he had seen this side of the continent and walked on the soil of Sound Country, for during the past decade he had been working in the northern Earth country until his partner was felled by a hunter-nin's blade. From Konoha, no doubt. No ninja outside of his former village could obstruct chakra channels with a finger and kill his competent partner so easily. But it made no difference whatsoever if he had once known that the man who carried that special ability. He did not care either at his partner's timely death. When years flew past like the kunai he threw, past acquaintances were as dead as those he impaled.

He abruptly stopped walking and dropped heavily to the floor, sprawled on his back. Besides violent tremors that came from the level two curse seal, he had unexpected bouts of extreme exhaustion that resulted from taking the pain relievers. He did not bother to move a single limb, even though he was in the middle of the road.

All he did was gaze at the sky. A never-ending night. But right now he was tired. Just tired.

* * *

After giving the area one last survey, Sakura leapt down from her guarding standpoint and with a curt nod, allowed the second anbu bodyguard to take over her shift. The traveling band had decided to rest for the night at the lake since they were far ahead of schedule, and had reached the border between Fire and Sound country three days earlier than planned. Crouching down, she opened up her bag and took out a sleeping roll, which she then laid across the floor. The day-shift guards have already gone to sleep, but she noticed that Naruto's bag was still unpacked. At the corner of her eye, she spotted the blond ninja reclining on a boulder near the rocky shores of the lake. She stood up as she rubbed her stiff neck, and decided to put off her sleep to see what he had been up to.

"Naruto, aren't you tired?" The chucked pebble shot towards her face and she caught it deftly with her left hand before it hit, an eyebrow raised.

"Looks like you aren't either," he quipped.

"Actually…" She seated herself comfortably on the boulder next to him. "I _am_ tired. We already arranged a night shift. Why don't you go to sleep? Your boundless energy needs to come from somewhere."

He stuck his tongue out childishly. "Haven't you heard of my reputation for high stamina? I never get tired!"

"Is that why you used to come back from missions and sleep for days?" was her wry reply.

"But I dream! That doesn't count as sleeping."

"Oh really?" She glanced at him with interest. "What do you dream about then? You've already become Hokage…"

_I must be dreaming or…_

Naruto did not immediately answer. He enjoyed the quiet music of water splashing steadily against the rocks; in the bustling days of Konoha, he had missed this simple sound. The comfortable silence between them lasted for awhile because there was no need to be boisterous around Sakura, no need to force her attention on him like he had used to. They had been inseparable for twelve years since the massacre, and knew each other as well as the back of their hand.

Thoughtfully**,** he picked up a medium-sized pebble and threw it across the lake. The rock skipped on the water three times before it sunk underneath the rippling surface. Sakura smiled and mimicked his movement, except her pebble traveled one skip more.

_We're onto something_

Shooting her a frown, Naruto tried again and made five skips. They competed in a silent contest over whose rock could go the furthest, the little competition bringing back memories of their adolescence. During the time they were under Kakashi's tutelage, competitiveness had always defined the basis of Team Seven's teamwork, and they rivaled each other to even the simplest of games, such as this one. The only difference now was that the twenty-six-year-old Naruto had lost his childish inclination to shout or argue during the game. When they both tied at seven skips, they left it at that and settled down on the rock.

"Hmmm…" he murmured finally, crossing his arms behind his head. "I dream about many things…the past, the present, and even the future. But I especially dream about you."

_Hey just whatcha make me for_

Sakura leaned her head onto his shoulder and closed her eyes. "Naruto…"

A sigh. "I know, Sakura-chan… I try, I really do…but I can't help it. Since we were young, I've liked you. Since I've started to help you train, I was attracted to you. Since we've been together, I've loved you—in the past, in the present, and maybe in the future. It's something I can't explain. Even if I'm beginning to like her, this won't ever change…this feeling of wanting to protect you." He chuckled softly as he ruffled his hair, eerily white when struck by a moon ray.

_I don't fall in love lawlessly_

"Sometimes, I ask myself questions. Why couldn't I have been him? Why couldn't he just have stayed? Why and why and why? I've wondered if things could've been different. But nothing can change now…except, maybe time."

"Time?" she interjected quietly. "But wasn't it time that changed us—no, me? A span of twelve years has given me hatred and a hunter's mask. It has given me the you I see now. I, too, wondered if I didn't have to know or feel like this; and I've asked myself questions. Like…" She swallowed down the lump that formed in her throat and smiled dismally. "I must be really tired. Tell me more about what you dream about. We've never gotten the time till now to do this."

_I must be dreaming or_

"There are so many things to dream about that I can't name them all. I'll try though." He grasped her hand and she made no move to pull it away as she might have done years ago. His voice dropped to a quiet, slightly lethargic murmur. "I dreamed of a time to come when we won't ever have to be scared…or be alone. When life passes slowly and peacefully by…when I can just lay on the grass with Shikamaru, watching the clouds. When you are in the Academy, teaching students how to control their chakra…"

As Sakura listened, she gazed at the sky, lulled by the visions that he spun, of the fresh mornings, the lazy afternoons, and followed by the warm nights. Those were dreams she never had, but listening to Naruto gave her the guilty desire to see it come true.

"And most of all, I dream of the time when the three of us were together, doing missions under Kakashi's watchful…_Icha__ Icha __Paradise__._" Sakura laughed, remembering how their teacher was always reading his favorite book. "I dreamed of you, the prettiest girl I had ever seen. I dreamed of me, who dazzled everyone with my amazing feats of talent. And I dreamed of Sasuke, who—"

He did not anticipate her gasp of surprise and her hanging mouth.

"What?" he asked.

Her eyes were twinkling with mischief as she said nonchalantly, "Well, I shouldn't be surprised. I always thought you were bisexual."

His own mouth dropped open. "_SAKURA-CHAN!"_

"What?"

"I don't mean it _that_ way!"

She broke into an impish grin. "Well, from the way you two had always been glaring at each other, hating each other, it wasn't hard to assume…"

He hid his shamed face in his hand. "Ugh, don't…"

"He's always ignored the girls. They say arrogant bastards tend to be gay."

"If he had, then why…"

Her blood ran cold, and her hand tightened in his.

_Pinch me to waking_

"……Don't say it, Naruto."

"Why do you avoid this?"

The kunoichi pressed her face into his shoulder. "Do I have to tell you?" she whispered.

"Sakura-chan, I can't hide it from you. I've been having these dreams about the three of us…something tells me that very soon we will see him again. And I'm afraid about what will happen when we do…"

Her words turned icy as the water. "Don't fear, don't question the future. When I find him, I will _kill_ him."

"No, don't say—"

"This is my duty—a promise I cannot fail to her. If I die by his hands, I'll make sure he comes down with me."

The blond Hokage shook his head desperately. "You weren't meant to die, Sakura-chan. She saved your life—she wanted you to live."  
"I'm not the one in denial here." She sat up stiffly. "He wanted to kill me. I will not rest until he dies. He and I—we will never be who we used to be." Cold mirth seeped through her tone. "Only you, Naruto, only you will not change."

Hurt by her words, Naruto turned his head away as his voice fell flat and heavy with unrestrained emotion.

"No, you're wrong. I don't know what's going to happen when you're gone. Even though he's left us, I'm still glad that he is alive somewhere, that he was once apart of our lives. But if he dies, and you die too, I'll…I'll be alone again. You were the closest to a family I ever had, besides Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei. That's why I can't lose you—I won't lose you."

_So undeniably yours _

The kunoichi nimbly jumped off the boulder and turned to him. Her eyes were aquamarine like the moonlit waters it reflected, yet unbreakable and gleaming like the ice she felt inside. Naruto looked down, his brows furrowed in dejection.

"I can't stop you, can I?" he said sadly.

"No…but…" She gazed across the lake. "Do you know what I dream about?"

"What?"

She glanced back at him impassively. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

_As long as I'm losing it so completely

* * *

_

Sasuke never got the dreamless sleep he desired. He was always haunted by dreams, nightmares, and visions—anything that appeared when his eyes closed. It was irritating to have to look into his subconscious, but as they were the only semblances of his thoughts and free-will, for he had no such thing when he was awake, he did not hate it.

_Euphoria_

But the images that encompassed him this time were different from the usual. They were memories, not the psychotic and twisted fantasies that came out of his disturbed mind and the wretched curse. Memories that had managed to trespass the psychological barrier of the seal and entrap his unwilling mind in the flow of reminiscence.

_ Leaves of deep green, struck golden by the morning light, fluttered around him, as if embracing him in a whirlwind of the summer color. He blinked, his eyelashes flicking away the raven bangs that hung over his forehead, obsidian eyes lost in the well of thought, almost unaware of the watching girl who stood behind him. As she pulled back thick coral locks of hair behind her ear, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but then decided against it and shut her mouth to wait for what he would say._

_ "All alone…" he murmured, mostly to himself. Granted, he and Naruto were two classes apart— he was the Uchiha prodigy and Naruto was the moron—but what Sakura had said about Naruto struck close to his own pain and solitude. This was a rare instance where Sasuke and Naruto were the same, and the raven-haired genin found himself defending the blond idiot._

_ Sakura found that she had lost all sense with the breeze; her dumbfounded expression would have been almost comical if the atmosphere had not suddenly felt cold and…forlorn. _

_ "Huh?" she responded blankly._

_ "The sadness of having a parent yell at you is nowhere near what he feels…" _

_ "What's this…all of a sudden…"_

_ His eyes hardened into obsidian, his hands unconsciously clenching in contained fury. He understood fairly well where Sakura stood in life. Blessed with an ordinary family and an ordinary background, she would never feel what the two boys felt. Just like the rest of Konoha, she had no right to criticize them, who lacked what she had. She had no right to understand at all._

I can't take any more of yah__

_ He pivoted around, startling her with his frigid glance. "You're…annoying."_

The mid-afternoon breezes picked up again, and he gripped a nearby tree in futile resistance, but he was pulled into another image, another memory of a time when he was human. Meanwhile, outside his psyche, his body thrashed restlessly in the curse seal's rejection of the intruding visions, and beads of sweat trickled down his stricken face. He hated these memories, these utterly vile, unfathomable, awful memories he could never escape from. They made him emptier.

_I'm losing it_

_ It was another moment with Sakura, this time in the training fields during their survival test._

_ "There's a man that only I can kill…" His head hung low, weighed down by the responsibility given by his heritage, feeling those eyes of cursed ruby stare down on him with contempt and pity. Breaths came in and out, even and calm, reminding him in every moment, in every inhale and exhale, that he was alive for one reason. _

_ "Who? Kakashi-sensei?"_

_ "That time…crying…" The shame of surviving the massacre was a constant in his mind, especially when he had done absolutely nothing to have been kept alive..._

_ "Crying?"_

_ …Except that he was the closest kin of the greatest Uchiha prodigy who had ever lived—and killed them all. _

_ "My…"_

_ "What do you mean?" she asked._

_ The meddlesome question cut through the veil of dark remembrances and pushed him back into the reality of the situation. He straightened his posture with renewed alertness, limbering his muscles for a second fight with the grey-haired jounin. Anyhow, Sakura's suggestion to fail the survival test was not an option for the Uchiha survivor._

_ "I am an avenger," he told her. "I have to become stronger than that man. So I can't just stay around here."_

I must be dreaming or we're onto something

The time currents that overtook him this time were much forceful than before, almost storming him from the memory to a cyclone of various recognizable flashbacks. He was not taken back by this; previous experience has made him almost expectant of what would happen next. While slideshow usually lasted no more than a few moments, he was very well aware of a certain importance that lied within these image-sparks of people and their lingering voices. But the exhaustion that followed after these visions had made it difficult for him to mull over them before they slipped away, like the teasing waves that swung forth and back on a rocky shore. What the importance was, he could never figure out. That was…until now.

_Never forget. Never deny._

His inner self stiffened at the intrusion of a bodiless voice. The words glided past his ears, latched onto the autumn leaves of warm, soft red that waltzed around him in taunting circles and whirls.

_Hey just whatcha make me for_   
  
_What do you mean? _he asked hesitantly, wondering if the unknown voice was an indication that he had gone completely insane.

The images of a very familiar blond ninja infused the screens of his mind.

_"My dream is to surpass the Hokage! And then have all the people in this village acknowledge my existence!"_

_ "Hey…you eyebrow-less freak…Put this in your notebook. The man who will one day become Hokage…Konoha ninja—Uzumaki Naruto!"_

_ "I'm going to become a ninja in my own way!"_

_You heard him, _whispered the turbulent winds, the faint words toneless and yet silky. He was memorized almost to the point of believing its unctuous words. _You were among the first to acknowledge him. Why have you stopped listening?_

_ No, _he shook his head to repel the voice within the walls of his mind_. I never listened. He was a fool!_

The responding silence stretched thin across the overbearing shrills of the air currents. Then he came under another onslaught of words and images.

_ "You guys are the first. Everyone else would just do whatever I told them. They were all just morons. …A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash. But you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash."_

_ "I won't let my comrades die."_

_ "Because he was like me…Because he lived the same kind of loneliness and sadness I did…I thought he was strong 'cause he survived that solitude, fighting for only himself. But I was wrong. His strength isn't real… Strength doesn't come from fighting alone. Real strength is not what you have when you fight for only yourself. When you have something special that you want to protect, only then can you become truly strong! I'll protect them no matter what!"_

_ "You should know from your loss… The Chidori is a power given to you because you've found things important to you. That power is not something to be used against your friends or for revenge. You yourself should know what that power should be used for."_

_You knew what they meant, _said the voice, _you knew how much it meant to you to protect the ones close to you. Where has your strength gone?_

_I don't fall in love lawlessly_

He was unable to answer. Instead, more voices.

_How about her?_

_ "You and me, along with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei…We did all sorts of missions, just the four of us. It was painful and difficult at times, even with that though…I still enjoyed it."_

_ One autumn day…_

_ "I know all about your past, Sasuke. Even if you get revenge though, it won't bring anyone happiness, not even you Sasuke …nor me…"_

_ She knew you._

_ "Do you really want to go back to being alone? You told me how painful it was to be alone! Right now, I know your pain…! I may have friends and family, but if you were to leave, to me…to me, I would be just as alone as you…"_

_ She did everything for you._

_ "I—I love you with all my heart! I would do anything for you! Please, just stay with me…"_

_ She fell for you._

I must be dreaming or

_ "You can't do it! I'll take you back with full force!"_

_ He fell for her._

_ "I…I made a promise, Sasuke…a lifetime promise to her."_

_ He did everything for her._

_ "…I don't understand. I—do I know you? Why? Why did you kill them, Sasuke? They didn't have to die!"_

_ Yet you took away everything he gave her._

_ "But now, it doesn't matter anymore… Know this, that when we will meet again, I won't stop either, Sasuke-kun. No, now it's Uchiha Sasuke. I won't stop until I kill you."_

_And you threw away everything she gave you.  
_  
Pinch me to waking

_ No more! I can't take it anymore… No…_

The haunted young man staggered under the inner burden, swiping madly at the offending leaves as if they would go away by doing so. Instead, the winds became a typhoon and the leaves spun faster and faster, closer and closer, until the razor sharp edges grated his skin.

Forced awake by the mental agony, he let loose a scream into the silent night, a howl that sent shivers down the spines of anyone and anything that heard it. He gripped his plagued head until bruises began to form under his fingers. There were no longer voices in his head. There was only a gamut of pictures that flickered across the theaters of his mind in a soundless movie: pictures of Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi.

_So undeniably yours_

Sasuke hated to ask himself why; he hated to ask any questions at all. He wanted vengeance, and got what he wanted. Now he was paying the consequences by working under his deceased brother's organization. Now he was paying for all those years he had wasted—he was paying for living. _Why?_

_As long as I'm losing…I'm losing it_

He curled into a semi-fetal position. Blood specked the floor, dripping from his pale mouth. His eyes wavered from obsidian to crimson, back and forth until he regained his chakra control back, setting them back once again into its hypnotic state. Shivering in the cold night air, he heard nothing else but his own haggard breathing. The familiar, welcoming burn of the curse spread throughout his body, sealing the fissures of his mental state with its black tar and readjusting his body back to its pseudo-normal state. The side effects of the pain relievers by now had completely worn off and he was able to sit up, albeit shakily. His breath got caught in his throat when he noticed the small dew drops soaking into the dirt. His trembling fingers touched the darkened spots; they were wet. He looked to the skies, checking to see if it had rained. But the night was as silent as ever. He looked down again.

"Are…those tears?"

_I'm losing it in the end

* * *

_

There was no time to waste. He needed to hurry before the night faded into dawn, before anyone discovered his intentions and be harmed from them. It was best this way, especially when traveling in enemy territory.

Faster and faster his feet carried him from branch to branch, without stopping, without knowing where it went except forward. With his head pounding with adrenaline, he enjoyed the freedom he had not experienced in a long time, the familiar feelings of fear and exhilaration he had missed having.

Then something caught his eye as he passed.

It was small, hardly noticeable, but with the heightened senses of a ninja, he recognized it. The floating lone eye stared up at him unblinkingly, its brown irises tainted with specks of malevolent red that unsettled anyone who saw it. Within a split-second decision, he dove down from the branches and grabbed the eye with his hand before landing nimbly on the floor.

The eyeball in his hand became sand that sifted through his fingers and when his head shot up, he saw from a distance a silhouette in the vague and foggy morning, standing over a prone body.

"Still killing?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. He stepped closer, feeling the other man's measured gaze land on him. "Senbaku no Gaara."

* * *

When Sakura woke in the hours before dawn, it was to the sounds of metal clashing and the moans of pain that followed. The instinct of danger shot through her and her head swerved to the side to dodge the weapon, the kunai thrumming near her ear when it stabbed the wood. Growling, she jerked the kunai out of the tree trunk and slipped on her mask. The pink-haired ninja fell off the tree and quickly rolled when she hit the ground to soften the impact. Now fully awake and her heart beating wildly from the sudden exertion, she assumed the formless stance of a fighter, tense for battle and the kunai twirling in one hand.

She easily spotted the intruder among the blurred fighting, and let out a curse. The signature black mantle identified him as one of the notoriously lethal Akatsuki, but how could one man easily slaughter a whole team of anbu from Konoha? The only one standing against the Akatsuki member was the Hokage himself. Her fist clenched into a tight ball.

_I'm losing it…_

No more time to think. She sped forward, the stolen dagger raised above her head. Let the attacker die by his own weapon. The mission preceded everything, especially when it came to Naruto. As she charged, she reached for her back pouch and threw out several shuriken at the enemy. Even with the heavy cloak he wore, he dodged it almost lazily and jumped back to avoid her following kunai strike. She could not get a good look at his face; it was half covered by the collar of his mantle and the straw hat that curved over to shadow his eyes. Frowning at the anonymity, she came to the Hokage's side.

Naruto shot a glance at her. "Stay out of this!"

"I will not tolerate your indiscretion, Lord Hokage." Her voice, muffled through the mask, was clipped and toneless, as it was taught to be during training. "I can handle it."

"No, that's not what I mean," he roared as he dunked to evade an upper kick from the enemy. Taking advantage of the enemy's distraction as Naruto fought him, Sakura plunged her knife into his back. She caught a strange look on Naruto's face with a confused frown before the Akatsuki man dissipated into smoke. Her head snapped up just in time to see the real man falling through the air, brandishing a kunai before him. By sending waves of energy to their feet she and Naruto barely managed to leap out of his attack range. The enemy plummeted down into the earth, causing an explosion of dirt that left a huge crater in its wake.

"Why are you not using your Rasengan?" Sakura asked, noticing that he had been fighting hand-to-hand only. It was peculiar how he was not putting his acclaimed strength to use. The kunoichi made a long horizontal slash at the intruder, who stepped to the side to dodge it. "Now is not the time to be merciful!"

_I'm losing it in the end…_

"Because…" He looked away. "Because I can't."

She furrowed her brows. "What?"

"I can't believe how foolish Konoha has become," a coarse voice broke in, "to choose Naruto as Hokage."

Sakura froze.

_I must be dreaming…_

The tone of voice had certainly changed, rough and cacophonous, but she had known it well—too well. At one time, the deep bass would travel down her spine in a warm tingle, making her blush. But now it made her remember very clearly, images assaulting her in the most inopportune moment.

_"You can't stop me, Sakura. Nothing will get in the way of my revenge, not even you, and not even Naruto."_

She did not see the look of dread that crossed Naruto's face.

_"I won't stop either, Sasuke-kun. No, now it's Uchiha Sasuke. I won't stop until I kill you."_

_I'm losing it in the end_

The grip on the kunai was so tight that the skin of her knuckles stretched taut and white.

_"I swear I won't cry anymore! I won't be helpless, I won't be weak! Give me insanity, please and I won't ask anything else!"_

"Why are you hesitating?" he asked with cold amusement. "Aren't you going to protect your precious Hokage?"

_"N-Naruto…will you train me?"_

_I must be dreaming_

Uchiha Sasuke lunged forward to kill the unknown anbu, who stood stock-still. Scowling, Naruto intercepted the attack by parrying his kunai with his own.

"Stop it! Your opponent is me!"

Behind the collar of his cloak, a vicious smirk curved his thin lips. "Can you, you low-rate ninja? Can you kill me?"

Naruto's eyes darkened. "What?"

He did not anticipate the sudden lightning static that gathered in Sasuke's hand.

"I'm Death."

The Chidori struck the Hokage on the shoulder. Naruto's eyes widened; Sakura jerked awake from her trance. Soon the blond ninja was on his knees, holding his bleeding wound. He bit his lip enough to bleed to suppress any cry of pain, trying to keep his composure from writhing. Sasuke stepped forward, ready to send the Hokage into unconsciousness for his taking. He needed to report to Akatsuki as soon as he captured his prey.

But four shadow clones of the anbu stoically stood in his way, trembling in anger. Behind them, the real one was treating his target. "Don't you dare touch him," they spat out in unison.

The fight was on. The Akatsuki member flipped backward to dodge the shuriken that rained down from above, and then leapt forward to attack. Meanwhile, Naruto gazed up at Sakura with eyes narrowed, his consciousness wavering.

"What…what are you doing? I shouldn't be this tired…"

He could not see behind her mask. "To stop the bleeding, I'm going to put you into momentary death," she said. He opened his mouth to protest, but it never left his lips. He slumped over her shoulder. Careful not to push the needles further in, she embraced him before setting him down. For him, for herself, she must fight him, even if Naruto was the stronger, even if she would never win. Her surrender would only occur by death.

_I must be dreaming_

Sasuke had just finished the last of the clones when she stood up. His head jerked to the side as he promptly caught the kunai thrown at him.

"I'm going to use that kunai to kill you, but I'll let you hold onto it for now. Look closely; I'm not only an anbu." Needles slid out of the spaces between her fingers as she fell into stance. She had the upper hand; he knew not her identity.

"A hunter-nin…" he mused. "In a team of bodyguards…"

"You will die by my hand and no other, Uchiha Sasuke."

The winds…were beginning to pick up again.

* * *

So you ask: "WHY ARE THE CHARACTERS SO OOC!?" Believe me, everything will work out. ;) And _no_, Naruto is not weak. Out of the three, he is probably the strongest. Just stay with me, readers, until the end and you'll find out.

Well…how was it? =) Please review if you like it!


	2. Wretched Melody

Title: Amicitia

Author: Kenhime

Genre: Angst, Drama, and Action

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. The song "Only Ashes" by Something Corporate doesn't belong to me either.

Warning: This is **strong NaruSakuSasu friendship, **and includes profanity.

* * *

Chapter Two – Rudus Exposition: The Wretched Melody

_ Her fame was so widespread that she was known only by her first name around the world. Tsunade of the Three Ninjas, the most beautiful and strongest woman in the world, they said of her. She became the first woman to be inaugurated as the Hokage; she was also the most striking woman Sakura had ever seen. These facts were solid proof of her legend._

_ However, Sakura did not see her in search of glory or beauty. Just like Naruto and Sasuke had done before her, she sought one of the Sannin for power._

_"Lady Hokage." Sakura bowed in respect, her long grown hair cascading down her shoulders and caressing her cheeks._

_ The Fifth Hokage did not answer immediately. Instead, she steepled her fingers on the rail of the watchtower, two blond tails of her hair ruffled by the high breeze. The younger kunoichi waited. Speckles of green whirled past them, the leaves of summer that were taken by the wind, leaving in the coming of the much colder autumn. Sakura did not like the feeling of déjà vu brushing against her chest. So many things in the village held so many memories she no longer wanted._

Piece by piece, and bit by bit__

_ "So," Tsunade began, "what have you come to me for?"_

_ Sakura turned rigid with attentive formality and respect. "I ask of you to become my teacher."_

_ Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Your teacher is Kakashi, is he not?"_

_ "He is, but only you can help me."_

_ "That is unreasonable. I cannot teach you."_

_ Unreasonable, she said, but to Sakura, it meant that she was too weak to be taught by Tsunade, the strongest kunoichi in the world._

_ "Life is the most unreasonable, Lady Hokage."_

I'll break this down for you, real slow

_ There was soft shiing of metal. Tsunade did not bother to turn around. That little girl was crazy to try and threaten the Hokage. Sakura continued, fingering the dagger with her fingers._

_ "I can't find 'reason' anymore." She closed her eyes. Tears slid down. "Not when she died. All I feel is this dagger I hold. All I know is I must become the dream she always wanted me to be. For the wishes of the dead, don't refuse me my purpose," her voice trembled, but it was strong._

_ Tsunade whirled around, snapping, "I know what you seek. But I cannot allow your grief take over your senses!"_

_ To her horror, the pink-haired girl sank the sharp edge of the kunai into her palm, the thick red liquid pooling in her cupped hand. Her face strained from the pain, Sakura gritted out her vow._

_ "On this hand, I swear I won't cry anymore! I won't be helpless, I won't be weak! Give me insanity, please and I won't ask for anything else!"_

But I can't whisper all of this

"_Don't be stupid, kid—"_

_ "I am no child," the shaking girl cut her off. "I am no longer who I was. This time, I—I want to be strong."_

_ To Tsunade, this blood oath would not be enough to convince her to teach the girl. But she understood the feeling of rejection and worthlessness. Becoming strong had stemmed from the immense resentment of being left behind, underestimated, when she was the little girl of the Third's three. Perhaps, they were the same in that aspect. How could she refuse then?_

_ A heavy sigh hovered in the air. Tsunade approached the girl and bent down to meet her tearful gaze. She took her hand and with warming chakra, healed the cut. What remained was a thin, long scar that ran diagonal across her palm._

_ "Only a child would be so passionate," the Hokage murmured. A guilty expression flitted across her face. "But that makes me a child, too."_

And I can't seem to let this go

_ Sakura sniffed in response._

_ "Then I will teach you, on one condition."_

_ "What is it?"_

_ "You will keep your allegiance to Konoha and the Sixth Hokage. You can never leave the village as a missing-nin. You shall never follow the same path as your former teammate."_

_ "Then who's Sixth Hokage?" _

_ "Uzumaki Naruto."_

_ A long silence. Then—_

_ "I promise."  
  
_

* * *

Sometimes Haruno Sakura had wondered how they came to this, having drifted far from their path of dreams, having gone into the bleakness that in the end was the one thing they ever shared. And there were other several times she had wondered, however, _why_ they would have to meet, pitting hatred and bloodlust against each other, reduced to mere beasts invoked by one black passion. 

This was no time to wonder. This was the time to feel the elation in finding an outlet of both misery and fury at last.

_So I'll watch the matches, turn to ashes_

She started forward and swung her arm in an arc, throwing a string of needles. The attack struck dead on—and his shadow clone went up in smoke. Without missing a beat, the kunoichi flipped forward to avoid the shuriken aimed at her from above. She flung more needles above at him and missed by a large margin. She could see the incredulity in his eyes.

She had been underestimated right from the start.

_I'll watch the matches, turn to ashes_

She allowed a bitter smile to surface as she thrust a hand out, fingers spread out. The needles stopped in midair at her command. In junction with the movement of her hand, the needles reversed its direction to stab Sasuke at the back. She commended him for still managing to land on his feet, when he should have been mostly immobilized by now. He was grim, steady even when she knew how painful those needles struck him.

"Those needles…they're chakra-controlled, aren't they?"

"Correct," she said, quite lightly, the same smile playing across her lips. She had waited for this moment to arrive. How long had she trained to meet him? How long had she perfected a technique that was unique to her only?

_I can tell it's your turn, I smell the sulfur so clear_

The needles left on the floor from earlier flew back to Sakura, who ran forward to catch them with ease. Sasuke managed to bring up his kunai in time to parry the needles that extended from her hand. As the steel slid off steel, the raven-haired ninja moved to kick her from the side; she ducked and did a leg sweep. He jumped out of her leg's path and taking advantage of her low position, kicked her at the chin. She was able to block his foot before it landed, but the force pushed her back a few feet—into the lake.

A jutsu was in perfect order for the situation. Sasuke's fingers moved, the speed of his technique faster than the blink of an eye, and he murmured the name. Before Sakura could escape, a circle of water surged up and crashed in on her. The water fell back down, sending waves that reached the shores of the lake. Sakura's figure was motionless before it fell in a broken heap.

A cracked log bobbed on the shaken waters, where her body should have been.

Sasuke was not taken back. The winds around him began to pick up, incited by his opponent's chakra. As his heavy bangs thrashed against his face, his crimson eyes searched for the chakra body that would pinpoint her location. When he found her, it was already too late; he was caught in her genjutsu. The wind grew even stronger and faster around him, carrying on its gusts the leaves of deep green.

"It's over," she said. The leaves twisted around him, its razor blades cutting into his cloak. Sakura watched in satisfaction as the flying leaves shredded his body, and readied her senbon for a closing attack.

_And fire's a beautiful sound_

However, there was a startling, ruthless tug on her low ponytail and she hissed in response. Before her narrowed forest eyes, his empty mantle fluttered to the ground, torn to scraps.

"You ruined my cloak," he said blandly behind her ear. The sight of lustrous pink hair triggered an unknown part of his mind, but he ignored it. His dagger cut her pale neck slightly enough to draw blood.

She snorted in response.

"Enough playing." He circled her, his kunai still pointed, until he faced her directly. He lifted his head to utilize his best weapon, one he had hoped to save for more important purposes than to punish one insignificant anbu. Sakura stilled, caught in his deadly gaze. "Mange Sharingan!"

_And the wings that you burn turn to ashes my dear_

The battle was decided.

Red.

She stood knee-deep in the thick red, circled endlessly by three black spheres. To her horror, the level of the crimson waters began to rise, and she frantically fought to keep her head above water, but she was finally submerged.

Black.

It was suffocating…thick and dark and cold at once. She willed herself not to recoil in the darkness, but her frame still shivered under the ominous atmosphere.

His voice permeated through the walls of her mind. "The world of the 'Grasping Moon.' All of space. All of time. Every matter. Everything is under my control."

She was hurled back into a platform, where leather straps secured her arms and legs on the icy cold cement. Black forms took shape as they neared—in the appearance of Sasuke, each holding a blade. One of them reached down and gripped her throat. She could not breathe.

"Now, for seventy-two hours, you will be stabbed by katanas continuously."

_And ashes just fall to the ground_

Deep in the corners of her psyche, she felt her entire body being ripped apart by sharp cold steel. The feeling drew up from her buried memories a similar experience, the one catalyst of all of her present actions.

_ Sakura looked about frantically, eyes wide in confusion. What was going on?_

_ Her heart stopped. _

_ There was Ino, smiling at her and so tangible—so alive. She reached her hand to see if her best friend was real, but her hand froze when she noticed her mouth turn upside down in a frown. Sakura looked behind her, and saw Sasuke, an image of his younger self, standing a distance away, specked in blood. A kunai, dripping of the ruby liquid, hung in his hand._

_ "Now, for twenty-four hours, you will relive the day…she died." _

For Ino's memory, for Sakura's punishment. For one girl's smile, for the other's tears.

Sakura dared not to scream. She dared not to cry. It felt like three days, yet it finished within an instant.

Her consciousness returned to the outside world. The needles dropped from her limp fingers to the floor, tinkling as they collided with each other. Her knees buckled beneath her and she landed hard on the ground, her chest tightening so painfully that death was not such a terrible option to her at that moment. Blood sprayed from her lips.

_ Yeah we're only ashes_

"_You truly bloomed into a beautiful flower, Sakura…"_

Nothing could be compared to the pain Ino suffered. She dug her fingernails hard into her palm to bring herself back in reality. Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"This jutsu…is used to…break down one's…spirit," Sakura gasped as she slowly lifted her head, smirking even when blood seeped from her mouth. "But—I—won't—fail."

Her shaking hands rose to form a perfect arrangement of fingers, a seal she could still execute even with the tremendous loss of chakra from the Mange Sharingan. Concentrating the rest of her energy, she made the needles vibrate. Sasuke let out a shuddering breath as the needles on his back grew hot and collapsed to the ground beside her. The needles seemed to pierce him deeper, and he felt his body agonizing until the numbness spread.

_Part by part and inch by inch_

Black, ugly tattoos appeared and spread across his face in horrifying speed. His face twisted with immense pain, he stared at her disbelievingly, his red eyes shrinking into two crazed dots. The chakra attack incited the curse seal, but no chakra came out. Instead, the pain increased by tenfold, and his breaths came shorter and shorter. The crimson liquid gushed out of his mouth as he spoke.

"What are you doing to me?"

"Those needles were aimed at your chakra holes. I jammed your channels. Because chakra can't get out, your curse is now trying to push your energy through your flesh. Painful, isn't it?" Her weak chuckle was triumphant as she stretched her arm out to take his fallen kunai. She fingered the blood running out of her lips as she pushed herself to her feet. "Let's end this."

She ran her index finger on the shining metal, staining it with her blood. Her eyes lingered on it, spellbound by how deep the color of red was. On her other hand, her needles appeared.

"Say hello to the devil for me."

_You'll have your mile when it's through_

"No," Sasuke rasped out as he threw himself at her. This was not the ending he wanted; he made no intention for this to be the last act of his tragic play. There was still something he needed done, and no stranger would stop him. With an unusual display of willpower, he pushed the curse seal into recession, though he could not prevent the seizure attacks that rolled in after. Hanging onto the brink of consciousness, he rained down blows on her, enough to shatter her mask, until she managed to stab him with her needles. Grunting, he fell off her. With his body about to give out from the spasms, he frantically searched for the medicine. Meanwhile, the kunoichi brought herself up to a sitting position, panting and coughing. She crawled over to where the man, who lay at last effete and overtaken.

By the time he found the medicine and swallowed the pill, the situation was inescapable. Even if he tried to get away, the effect of the pain relievers would bring him down in a few yards. Sasuke bit on his lip hard in frustration. The nightmares the night before certainly did not help, sending cracks into his impenetrable barrier that could not be fixed. He could not delay his death any longer—he could never see them again.

_Incinerate what's left of this_

"Why won't you die?" she whispered as she looked down at him. "Why won't you give up, Sasuke-kun?"

The feeling of familiarity struck him at once.

She lifted the kunai high in the air with both arms for the final strike. Like the walls of Sasuke's mind, the fissures on the animal mask grew until finally, the hard material broke away, revealing her bruised face.

Sakura. Haruno Sakura.

For a brief moment, Sasuke's eyes turned sable. Sakura's remained the same dull jade.

_And torch the part of me that's you_

_ "All alone…"_

_ "Huh?"_

_ "The sadness of having a parent yell at you is nowhere near what he feels…"_

_ "What's this…all of a sudden…"_

_ "You're…annoying."_

"_Die_, you bastard," she spat.

A scream of pent-up rage let loose from her lips as she brought down the knife.__

_So I'll watch the matches, turn to ashes_

But the dagger never hit home.

Sakura hung her head, vainly pushing the kunai down, but it made no budge. She smiled thinly.

"I knew you would do this to me, Naruto…"

The sun finally rose from the horizon, its rays striking them to make three silhouettes, frozen in the middle of a silent play.

_I can tell it's your turn, I smell the sulfur so clear_

Then Naruto's intruding hand gripped tighter around her wrists. Sasuke leaned his head down, struggling to regain the breath he had lost. Sakura's rigid posture slumped.

"Stop it," the blond ninja murmured. It was a mediating tone, a perfect ring that penetrated the dissonance of utter silence. "We were friends…this isn't how it's meant to be."

_And fire's a beautiful sound  
_  
"How can I stop? I can't—I…" Useless. Naruto would not allow her another opportunity to kill him. The weapon slipped from her fingers onto Naruto's hand. She fell back on the Hokage, giving into the exhaustion she had doggedly pushed away before. Her glazed green eyes came to a close, bloodied lips mouthing words that carried no sound. Dropping to his haunches, he slipped his arms around her and straightened up, staggering to the side under the weight, with her body tucked in his arms.

Sasuke noticed he was unhurt. "You…"

Somewhere behind them, the sound of a pop and smoke exposed the use of a Henge jutsu. Naruto's cerulean eyes dimly met his old friend's questioning gaze.

_And the wings that you burn turn to ashes my dear_

"One of my anbu ninja acted in my place," the true Hokage explained quietly. "I came just in time."

"He was too weak to be you," the other replied simply. "But I was fooled nonetheless."

The blond ninja could not help from smiling a little. "Didn't you know I was a prankster?"

"I…had forgotten," he sounded very tired. "Now you can kill me, an S-ranked criminal. Just a simple slash with a kunai, and then I'm done for."

Naruto shook his head slowly. "No, I can never do that. We're still not finished with what we started long ago. So…it's best now if we split."

Sasuke managed to scoff weakly. An unbidden epithet came to mind, but he crushed the thought of the all too familiar word. He weakly raised an eyebrow as he watched Naruto fish out a small porcelain container from his pocket, which he dropped next to Sasuke.

_And ashes just fall to the ground_

"Take the medicine. Hinata made it."

"I don't need your pity."

"I don't need you to be a jackass," his former rival retorted. "Consider this an old debt repaid."

Sasuke looked away. "Tch."

But as the Hokage walked away to recover his injured comrades, Sasuke realized a question tugged at him, something he desired to know from his former teammate. He called out weakly to Naruto's back.

"Aren't you afraid that I will come back again? That the next time, I will kill you? And her?"

The blond ninja halted.

"No, because I know for sure that we're gonna meet again. And you will _never_ kill us. " In spite of the wretched situation, a feral grin crossed Naruto's face, a bellicose look that Sasuke could not see.

"Because we'll kick your ass before you can."

_Yeah we're only ashes_

The sudden drop in Sasuke's chakra informed Naruto that the Akatsuki ninja had promptly lost consciousness. As he walked back to the scene of carnage, he spotted his old enemy again, leaning against a tree.

"Those were some confident words you gave," Gaara crossed his arms. "Do you think you can keep them?"

"Do I have to answer that?" Naruto replied as he surveyed the area with a frown.

"Don't bother. They're all dead. Your replacement did not survive even with the acupuncture."

"Shit," the Konoha leader cursed. "That bastard just killed them all without a second's thought, killed the very people he once was apart of."

"It's not hard to kill people you once knew. I should know," was the wry reply.

"Nothing against you, Gaara, but you're crazy."

The sand ninja snorted in response.

"Still," Naruto bent his head low, murmuring angrily, "they wouldn't have died if I wasn't so stupid and left them to handle it by themselves."

"Don't trouble yourself with it. You didn't know Sasuke was going to ambush your team."

Despite Naruto's misgivings, Gaara was right. He left the team in hopes that they would steer Sakura off his track and distract her while he dealt with his own troubles.

_"Still killing? Senbaku no Gaara…" Naruto walked closer until he saw him in clear view. Gaara glanced back down at the corpse._

_ "He was dead before I came," he said. "If I remember correctly, I wasn't being targeted by Konoha ninjas."_

_ "I'm not stupid enough to go after you." Naruto bent down to examine the body. "I've seen him before; he was a hunter-nin. Do you know who killed him?"_

_ "Uchiha Sasuke."_

_ The blond ninja stiffened. "You're joking."_

_ "No I'm not. I saw him going south from here."_

_ Gaara raised an eyebrow. Dust clouds rose from where Naruto originally crouched. _

Back in the present, Naruto cursed again.

"There is nothing you can do now, Naruto. You'll just have to take refuge in a nearby village. She'll need medical attention."

"I know, I know. Where're you going, then?" The Hokage shifted Sakura's weight around until he carried her on his back.

"With you."

The stupefied look on his face was priceless. "Huh? What?! Aren't you some kind of wanderer now?"

"I'm not wandering without cause. The Akatsuki were affiliated to my father, and for the past couple years, I've been gathering information about them."

"So finding you here was no coincidence?"

"That's right. I won't let this opportunity go to waste." Gaara hung his head, smiling darkly.

"…Especially when I can finally kill my father's murderer."

Naruto had nothing to say to that. "All right, you can tag along."

"Yes or no, I would've still followed."

"Jeez, at least you got permission, right?"

* * *

This was quite troublesome.

His position in the higher echelons of Akatsuki had afforded him the privilege to not stain his hands so needlessly. He could have sent a lower-ranked ninja in to do the job—that should have been sufficient enough—but the problem was most of them were killed already. Those who did survive were both unwilling and inadequate for this task, so it was left to him to strike at the root of this situation and strike quickly. His master expected him back within the speed of a few days when he finished dealing with the little irritating bug that had been eating away Akatsuki followers.

The grey-haired ninja nonchalantly hacked the last standing Konoha ninja across the throat, killing him instantly. Two people were left standing at each end of the Hyuga dojo. He moved his head slightly, and his glasses reflected Hinata's collected but fiercely intense gaze.

_I can tell it's your turn, I smell the sulfur so clear_

"I apologize, Miss Hinata, but these guards kept me from seeing you."

The Hyuga heiress kept her composure. "Killing them will not grant you pardon, sir. What have you come here for?"

"I suppose I can tell you that much." He wiped the specks of blood from his cheek with a pleasant smile. "Well, you see, one of your clan has killed many Akatsuki followers recently. I've come to make sure that such a thing will not happen again."

_And fire's a beautiful sound_

Hinata narrowed her eyes. "Then I am here to ensure such a thing _will_ happen again."

The man clicked his tongue. "You refuse to give me your cooperation. Your life could have been spared, Miss Hinata."

"I have no regrets. As leader of the Hyuga, I am the protector of my kin. I would rather die keeping you from him than to be shamed for my cowardice. I will not stoop to you...Mr. Kabuto."

_And ashes just fall to the ground_

"My, my, you've turned so stubborn. But I am short on time; I mustn't spare anymore of it on you than necessary."

"And I will do the same." Without taking her pale eyes off of him, she reached behind and grasped a kodachi. Trapped in her kimono, she could do no more than to parry him with a weapon. But she would not go down easily. After unsheathing her sword and throwing the scabbard aside, she fell into perfect stance.

"Come," she said.

He smiled wickedly.

The strike of metal against metal rang in the old walls of the dojo.

_Yeah we're only ashes

* * *

_

If you're wondering why there was a large gap between lyrics, it's because that's where the guitar instrumental fits in. - Just kidding.

How did you like this second installment? Please tell me! =)


	3. Solitude's Interlude

Title: Amicitia

Author: Kenhime

Genre: Angst, Drama, and Action

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Who gets to be with whom? Well, that power is in Kishimoto's hands. The song "Run" by Collective Soul doesn't belong to me either.

Warning: This is **strong NaruSakuSasu friendship, **and **includes profanity**.

Author's Note: I'm sorry for the long wait. I had many things I needed to smooth over in this chapter.

Chapter Three – Rudus Exposition: Solitude's Interlude

* * *

The jounin ruffled his silvery hair absently, his lethargic gaze unnerving the rank shinobi awaiting his command. Tales were told near and far of the demon-holding Sixth Hokage, but this man was also one specimen of his own class. This quiet and observant ninja became renowned for his genius in the art of the shadows when he became the youngest chuunin at the tender age of six and received jounin rank few years later. His fame grew as he obtained the much-desired Sharingan eye and earned the name Copy Ninja. Even after his retirement from the anbu, he continued to prove his capabilities as a powerful shinobi when his three students grew more legendary than him. One student, Uzumaki Naruto, became the "Dead Last" Hokage and the other, Haruno Sakura, an esteemed hunter-nin. Even Uchiha Sasuke also had an infamy among the people of Konoha as a top S-criminal in the bingo book.

_Are these times contagious?_

As the Fifth Hokage had long retired from office to wander across countries in search of gambling salons ("Let the little brat handle everything; I'm tired of Konoha"), this thirty-eight-year-old handsome (and still single) ninja had taken up the prestigious position of the Village's Pillar while his former student was away. But for all that Hatake Kakashi was and what rumors made him out to be, Kakashi felt that accepting the demanding burden of handling the Hokage's affairs was just a desk job that gave him adequate reason to use the time to read _Icha__ Icha Violence_. His poor secretaries were left to handle the administrative duties of the village.

In short, he drove everybody nuts. The frustrated, hair-pulling Konoha ninjas found comfort in mumbling to themselves that their much beloved Hokage had no idea of what would happen when he appointed this infuriating man as his substitute.

Quite to the contrary, Naruto had known exactly what was going to happen by a previous conversation with Sakura, when she had questioned his sanity on letting their former teacher take over.

"The old pervert's probably going to read his nasty comic book all day," he had said. "But it'll be fun to see them suffer just like we did when we were his students."

_I've never been this bored before_

When an urgent message arrived back from the Sixth Hokage himself, Kakashi had to make critical decisions that affected the very safety of Konoha. Just as the Elder Council had predicted, Naruto's team had become the sacrifices that had kept the Akatsuki at bay. It was fortunate that the council overrode the Hokage's veto power and forced him to assemble the bodyguard team as decoys against the criminal organization. However, no one had predicted that Sasuke was the one and only one that was sent to track down Naruto. No one had foreseen that Sakura would succeed in stopping the s-class criminal and still live. Ah, the world was full of surprises. The only thing predictable that happened after was Naruto ignoring his mission obligations to see to her medical treatment. As a result of these events, Sasuke was delayed, but Naruto was stuck in the dangerous grounds of Sound Country while the pink-haired kunoichi was comatose. Thus Kakashi needed to take advantage of this time to push Naruto into fulfilling his mission before Sasuke recovered to attack Naruto again.

While his subjects (or minions, as he preferred to call them) shifted their weight anxiously about in front of his mahogany desk, Kakashi carefully contemplated the different ways in which they might act. Sending reinforcements along with the medic Naruto requested would be an ideal solution; however, it would be harder to conceal the objectives the Hokage was sent out to do. The mission the Hokage was fulfilling was of the utmost importance that only a few knew about; even Naruto's guards had no clue about it when they were assigned to their duties. On the other hand, sending no reinforcements would leave the medic unprotected and they also would not be able to retrieve Sakura back to Konoha. Kakashi's visible eye, the one sign of his emotions, narrowed gravely as his mind began to wander over Sasuke's foolish actions.

In the beginning, he thought he taught his students well about the concept of camaraderie. This was shown in their successful completion of their first B mission in Wave Country that brought the team closer together. However, the Chuunin Exam ultimately proved that his team could not stay together, and it became the turning point in which the three genin chose different paths in life. When Orochimaru appeared seeking Sasuke, Kakashi instructed Sasuke more in ninjutsu and taijutsu as a defensive measure against the snake sage and his curse seal. But his narrow focus on Sasuke's training strained the relationship between him and Naruto, who later left him to become the apprentice of Jiraiya. And yet despite Kakashi's teachings, Sasuke was swayed to the ominous ways of Orochimaru. It came as a final blow to Kakashi when Sakura, who had been neglected by him during all this time, turned to Tsunade for help. In reality he did not deserve the praise of being an influential teacher. Although he had been successful in many things, he had failed as a mentor. A sullen feeling rose in his chest.

_Is this the prize I've waited for?_

A discreet cough from an anonymous shinobi prodded his attention back to the matter at hand, and his dull black eye flickered to them in cool consideration.__

"No," he replied finally, "it will do no good to bring the Hokage back and cancel the trip. It's too important."

"Then what shall we do?" a young ninja burst out, but at Kakashi's stern glance, subsided quickly in silence.

"You do nothing but bring Shikamaru here for a briefing. Now go!"

"Yes, sir!" their voices rang out as the ninjas bowed promptly and disappeared to do his bidding.

Kakashi's pensive stare wandered over the office walls until it rested on the portrait of the Sixth Hokage. The painter had done well in capturing the animated expression that was very much Naruto, but what stood out the most in expressing the subject's likeness was the dauntless power behind his expressive eyes, a maturity that had not been there when he had first come under Kakashi's tutelage. The grey-haired teacher tilted his head to the side, blinking slowly in his usual methodical way. He spoke aloud, albeit quietly, to the painting.

"What will you do, Naruto?"

He heard an exaggerated gasp from the far side of the room.

"Is he talking to himself!? Has he become insane under the stress?"

A pause. "Were you talking about me or yourself, Gai?"

Kakashi's self-proclaimed rival stepped out of the shadows, glowering after yet another defeat in a battle of wits. Gai joined Kakashi in looking at the portraits, rubbing his chin contemplatively with eyebrows raised.

"I've never seen you worried about Naruto before."

"Never before has the future of Konoha weighed so much on his decisions," the other replied and turned away, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Gai nodded gravely. "Indeed. It doesn't help that he's impulsive. And unpredictable."

"You give him no credit. Even if he still surprises everyone with bouts of stupidity, he _is_ the Sixth Hokage. Naruto has run the village very well so far. He is not the kid we saw fourteen years ago."

"You make it sound as if we're old geezers," Gai replied, wrinkling his nose at the thought of his youthful self sinking into old age. But Kakashi's face was deadpan, as it always had been.

"Gai…we _are_ old."

* * *

As he sat by her bedside, Naruto held in the sneeze that threatened to explode. Sakura would not have liked his snot all over her, even in her unconscious state. He imagined that she would wake up from her peaceful sleep and then bonk him on the head for stupidly sneezing all over her. There were other many things he had imagined she would do when she would wake up. But he knew what had put her into the abyss of oblivion as he had seen it before in the void eyes of Sasuke himself. She would not wake up by herself. In fact, he feared in the back of his mind that whatever happened, she never would.

_Now with the hour's passing_

However, he had to continue his journey in spite of what had happened. Four days had passed already. He bowed his head, feeling the weight of the short time given to him, hearing with every beat of his heart the tick-tocks of a clock as the minute hand moved closer and closer to the end of his life. He planned to leave as soon as she woke up; no matter how strong she was, she could not follow him in her recovering state. It would be best that she did not know what was happening to him. The pain would be less.

As he looked out of the window, he hoped his message had been received and that the medics would arrive soon to treat the wounded, since Suzu, their assigned medic had died in the slaughter. Conventional treatment offered by this little village was not enough to heal Sakura—only the exceptional medic ninjas of Konoha would be able to do that.

_There's nothing left here to insure_

He tenderly brushed back her hair. Her skin felt slightly cold, and her face was devoid of all emotion, a marbleize statue holding no soul. Uchiha Sasuke was the cause of this. Questions began to bombard his one-track mind, forcing open the dam that had held his worries and anger back until now.

What had happened when he had not been there? Why had Sasuke wanted to kill them? Where was Sasuke's customary arrogance, that confidence that used to piss him off? Where was the Uchiha he had once known?

"Gone," Naruto muttered to himself. He clenched his jaw, eyes blazing beneath his narrowed lids. "That bastard's dead. That—that man was just a ghost of who he used to be."

Where had their dreams gone? Where did their paths lead? Was this friendship all for nothing? Were they meant to be like this? Was there a way everything—everyone—could come back together again?

_I long to find a messenger_

"Ugh," the blond ninja rubbed his temple and stood up, "I give up. Too many things to think about, and I hate it."

As he turned to go, he glanced at his friend one last time. The sunlight that danced in spots across her face gave her an expression both icy and peaceful in her slumber. Even as he tried to stop the vicious torrent of questions from his mind, one managed to escape, a regretful question that seemed to jut out more often these days.

_Weren't _we_ supposed to protect Sakura together, Sasuke?_

_Have I got a long way to run?_

He opened the door only to find himself staring at a very familiar face. He broke into a grin.

Apprenticed under old-hag Tsunade, the woman staring back at him was one of the most distinguished women of the day, and the director of the renowned Konoha medical institute. No woman with a hectic schedule like hers would ordinarily step out of her office, but today, she had given up her precious time to come for his sake. That sacrifice alone called for a hug. But he forgot he was not a child hugging an adult at the waist anymore, but a full-grown man bear-hugging a petite woman.

"Guh—Naruto—air—need—"

"Oh! Sorry, Shizune!" he said sheepishly, releasing her so she could breathe. "Forgot that you were so small."

She shook her head, wheezing a little to get air back into her lungs. "Isn't it just your body that grew?"

"Aw, now don't say that!"

"I'm only kidding." Flashing a smile at his direction, she walked past him and reached over to the bedside. "How is she?"

"A sleeping beauty for four days now."

"I see." Her hand gently touched the large forehead and began to glow with healing chakra. It irked Naruto somewhat to wait four days for a healing that took only ten minutes, but psychological treatment was rarely offered anywhere outside of his village. It was still considered a breakthrough in the medical jutsu world. He watched as the warming energy gently imbued Sakura's face with life, turning cheeks rosy with health. When the healing ended, Shizune bent over closely to check her patient's eyes, and then nodded at him.

"How long 'til she wakes up?" he asked.

_Have I got a long way to run?_

"Considering she was psychologically attacked for three days, give her three days to recover her senses."

"Good. Enough time for me to ditch her."

"Not until you tell me what is going on." She shot him a warning glare before adding, "That young man standing outside also wants to know too."

"Huh?! What young man? Shizune, have you been picking up little boys again!? You know you're too ol—"

_WHACK!_

It was unusual to see a seething Shizune open the door and stomp out, much less after bashing her Hokage on the head, but that was just what the milling crowd of curious people saw. While rubbing the rapidly-forming bruise on his head, Naruto was glad that of all things she had learned from Tsunade, Shizune had not inherited her master's superhuman strength. At least he had escaped from her grasping questions.

_Yeah...I run_

"Only you would go so far to anger your medic _and_ insult me at the same time, Naruto."

The blond glanced up at the anbu standing at the doorway. Cloaked in all black, with only the decorative mask as his face, this hunter-nin of Konoha was a menace in the blackest of nights, a lone phantom with a reputation that haunted even the most traitorous of missing-nin in their sleep. But Naruto knew that with or without the standard hunter-nin uniform, this man was still terrifying efficient in the difficult arena of ninja-assassination. The hunter-nin had donned a cloak merely to ward off the cold during his nightly missions; this was a remnant of his former penchant for thick woolen sweaters. The mask, a mark of superiority among shinobi, was custom made without eyeholes because he simply had no need for them—they were a weakness if and when an enemy ninja aimed their senbon at the holes anyway. He was the best in his field because he was cut out to be the best in anything he did and he _knew_ it. That was why he was the only Konoha ninja who had the haughty guts not to bow in front of the Hokage. Naruto knew much more about this enigmatic man than it seemed.

After all, Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Neji were equals in all but name.

The Hokage grinned mischievously. "It was a dig too good to miss."

"Apparently. However, I am not here to banter with you, so let us talk in another place." Neji pivoted and before walking out, added over his shoulder, "Do not run from me."

Naruto face-faulted and made a gesture of surrender, his hands up in defeat. The Hyuga did not need a blood limit to read his mind.

"Fine, fine! I'm coming!"

Shaking his head, the Hokage followed the anbu into the hallway and closed the door shut behind them.

* * *

Sasuke blinked but the blur refused to go away. The late morning's sun light burned the back of his eyes, but he could barely move from his prone position on the floor. While the medicine had done much to soothe the pain, his muscles still ached horribly when he moved and his heart still pounded in his ears, as if taunting him. He still lived.

_Is this a cure among us?_

In his glazed eyes, he saw the cracking of that anbu mask once again and the forest eyes, once filled with adoration, that now regarded him with hatred. He had not expected to see her again. In fact, he had hoped he did not have to. He had been very close to the death he desired, but it had evaded his very grasp because of one woman—one familiar face that confronted him with what he had thrown away all those years ago. Now he was at a loss. Would he be able to die by Naruto's hand when he had not yet compensated for what he had done to Sakura?

Would Naruto still keep his lifelong promise in spite of her?

He had forgotten Naruto was a man of word. But then again, he had failed to remember what trust itself was, as betrayal lay everywhere now in this forsaken little world. Remembrance was a word of time, and time…time faded away into the nothingness he could not count on. The one thing he counted was the moments to the end of all things, to all life and death and desire and misery. And once again, just at his fingertips, it escaped him. Because of her—always because of her.

_From this processed sanity_

"All—all I…want…" he croaked to himself.

_Want._

_Desire._

_Yearn._

_Love._

_Need._

_Wasn't it power? Wasn't it revenge? What else you ask for?_

He shut his eyes, growling. He was insane; the voices inside his head would not leave him alone, especially his own.

_Quiet._

_Bare._

_Alone._

_Standing in black of nights._

_No one hears you, no one sees you._

_Wasn't it your reason? Your justification? For his death?_

_I weaken with each voice that sings_

"Shut up, shut up, shut up…" he snarled, refusing to listen, denying what he knew.

_Acknowledgement.___

_Their acceptance._

_Your acceptance._

_Aware of their love, aware of your love._

_Aware of the person inside you—the real you. Can you see it?_

"STOP IT!" he roared, bloodshot eyes flaring open as he shot up from the floor. He flinched as the throbbing in his head increased from the sudden movement, but at least the meddlesome voices were silent; all there was to be heard was his heavy breathing and the natural sounds of the forest. Quiet moments dwindled by as he sat there, shivering under the onslaught of unbidden emotions.

"…Fuck."

For the first time in years he cursed and…strangely enough, he enjoyed saying the colorful word.

"Oh…Fuck, fuck, fuck…" he repeated over and over, his voice trembling ever so with desperation. Dark eyes watered uncontrollably as he shook.

_Your eyes are crying. At last, your true eyes, Uchiha Sasuke, the eyes of onyx._

A breeze riled up the dust from the floor, sending the leaves of autumn to scatter across and around him. Under Sakura's accusing gaze, under Naruto's pained words, under his own traitorous thoughts, his shell broke. There was no turning back. There was not much time left. He had to push forward, even if it meant living again.

* * *

Once the door closed on the waiting room the medical staff generously lent them, the Hokage unceremoniously threw himself on the couch and stretched before crossing his arms behind his head. He glanced expectantly at Neji, who seated himself comfortably on the window sill.

"So what do you wanna tell me?"

"The Hyuga Main House was attacked four days ago by Yakushi Kabuto."

Naruto abruptly sat up, cerulean eyes flashing angrily. "_What!?_Is Hinata all right?"

"She was admitted into the hospital for a stab wound, but she will soon recover."

He flopped back down with a relieved sigh, but his concern for the Hyuga heiress was still evident in his clenched jaw. A possible reason behind the Akatsuki's attack might have been his close relationship to her; he was a long-time target of their sadistic purposes. For the criminal organization to go so far as to wreck havoc upon the Hyugas, it seemed the issue had not died away with time or his ascension to the title. His expression unconsciously darkened to a fierce glower, a savagery rarely seen nowadays in his more controlled temperament he showed his people. The Akatsuki would pay the consequences of hurting those dear to the kyubi's incarnation.

"Why did Kabuto, second-in-command of the Akatsuki, attack your house?" The question that was meant to be asked impersonally ended up sounding vehement.

Thankfully, Neji ignored it. "To kill Orochimaru."

Naruto's fury was temporarily forgotten as he stared dumbly at Neji for a long moment. "That doesn't make any sense."

"It shall be explained."

The Hyuga hunter-nin also ignored the look of annoyance that flashed across Naruto's face, for loquacity was a trait he did without.

_He watched expressionlessly as the waterfall of crimson splashed on the wooden floor. Behind him, his thirty-sixty vision perceived the weary gaze of his cousin as she clung to a wooden pillar for support so that she could stand up and watch the demise of the enemy. An ominous, low chuckle twisted the thick air, which stank with the bitter red wine of decanted life._

_"To think I could have killed the Hyuga clan so easily…" Kabuto choked, his eyes filled with wretched amusement, "is preposterous."_

_"Indeed," Neji agreed. Then he brusquely pulled his katana out of his enemy's stomach, earning a muffled grunt of pain from the wounded ninja. Kabuto staggered back a few steps; then, as the last of his strength leaked out, his knees buckled and thudded to the floor. Meanwhile, Hinata managed to stumble over to be next to her cousin, who did nothing to help her keep standing._

_"If you knew you were going to die, then why?" she breathlessly asked the Akatsuki member._

Now in this world of purchase__

_"I knew nothing of my fate. Dead or alive…makes no difference now." A smirk stretched his shaking, blue-tinged lips. "Killing you…was a diversion. Too bad I won't be able to see the end."_

_Neji's slit eyes scrutinized him. "End of what?"_

_"The end of the serpentine rule." He lifted his gaze to the ceiling, his voice strangely bleak, "A tragic circle, isn't it? He who killed the one dear to me, I who will kill the one he desire, and you who kill the one he needs and I hate."_

_"Pathetic," Neji replied tonelessly. "You were born a traitor, became a traitor, and now die as a traitor."_

_The dying ninja smiled. "Not so…"_

I'm going to buy back memories__

_Her eyes downcast, Hinata watched his black-beaded eyes dull into lifeless gray as his last words slipped out of his bloodied lips._

_"I never…betrayed…Kira-san."_

Outside the window, the leaves rustled in the morning's cold draft.

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed. "That name sounds kinda familiar…"

"According to the records, Yakushi Kira was the medic ninja who found him when Kabuto was an infant and became his guardian," replied Neji. "He was one of many found dead in Orochimaru's experiment chambers."

"To avenge the only person who accepted him, even by becoming a traitor...I would've done the same." Naruto bowed his blond head in solemn reverence. At the window, the hunter-nin crossed his arms, his own dark head stooped in grim thought.

_To awaken some old qualities_

"Nonetheless, Kabuto has set a plan in motion that is dangerous to Konoha," the Hyuga murmured.

"Y'know, Neji," Naruto scratched his cheek absently, "it's not possible for a dead person to be dangerous…"

"'Y'know,' Naruto, it's not possible for an idiot to be Hokage," Neji retorted.

The blond grinned. "That's why I've got you as my oh-so-underrated, lowly peon."

"I kindly suggest that you shut your mouth before you make any assumptions, _Lord Hokage_," the hunter-nin shot back, "and listen carefully. Kabuto has implemented something that may affect your decision in traveling to Lightning Country. Just because he is dead does not mean his plan failed."

"Look at his riddle. 'The end of the serpentine rule. He who killed the one dear to me, I who will kill the one he desire, and you who kill the one he needs and I hate.'" Neji gestured at Naruto with an open hand. "See if that makes any sense to you."

"'The end of the serpentine rule,'" the Hokage repeated slowly, thoughtfully. "So all along, Orochimaru's most trusted servant wanted to kill him? Well, the snake-freak killed Kira, so I guess that's what he meant by 'He who killed the one dear to me.' Then there is: 'I who will kill the one he desire.' So Kabuto thought that he'll kill…wait—_Sasuke_!? But how the--"

"Kabuto thought he had led Sasuke to his death, which would have weakened Orochimaru," Neji interrupted. "The attack on the Hyuga clan must have been a diversion."

_Have I got a long way to run?_

"He ain't the type to go and disobey his master's orders," Naruto pointed out. "Orochimaru probably sent him to kill you since you've been killing Akatsuki members left and right."

"Not quite... Two weeks ago, I killed Uesagi Tatsumo, Sasuke's partner in Earth Country. Most probably, Orochimaru thought Sasuke was going to kill me in revenge."

The blond ninja frowned. "Wait…how does the attack on the Hyuga have anything to do with killing Sasuke? And if Sasuke wanted to kill you, why did he go after me? And why would—ugh, I don't get it!" He scrunched up his face in puzzlement. "You've got this habit of confusing the heck outta people. I still don't know why _you're _here either!! Akatsuki—Kabuto—Orochimaru—Sasuke—you! I don't see the point!"

Neji rubbed his temples exasperatedly. "If you stop making a racket, then maybe I'll get it through your dense head!!"

"Maybe if you get your head out of your ass you can explain it to me!"

"Perhaps if you weren't so stupid in the first place, I wouldn't have had to!"

"I'm sick and tired of your 'stupid' remarks. If you shove those up your butt, maybe you'll get rich with the diamonds you'll make out of it. I didn't become Hokage just because I was an idiot!"

The booming voices shook the walls of the little room, and the surrounding people who were within good earshot of the senseless argument sweat dropped. The hospital director, who was standing at the end of the hall, stopped in the middle of his conversation with Shizune to shoot a frown in the direction of the shouting match, but the Konoha medic held him back and shook her head.

"If you value your life and dignity," she said, "I suggest you should leave them alone. Don't worry about them."

The director was hardly convinced, but he let the matter go and resumed talking. Shizune did not bother to tell him how fortunate the hospital was that the fight had not escalated to a full-blown ninja battle—yet. She had seen the aftermath of their numerous fights, where many buildings that had hopelessly fell into ruin and the now homeless people were less than sane. She figured that ignorance was bliss after all.

Sadly, that was not the case for Uzumaki Naruto. Hyuga Neji always made sure that his village was run by a disillusioned, omniscient Hokage.

"Urgh, you earsplitting, over-bearing moron of a female twit!"

Even if he had to lose his usually cool temper (and good diction) to do it.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"

"Nothing! _Shut up _and let me explain!"

"FINE!" Naruto scowled as he looked away, mumbling a curse that Neji did not choose to hear.

The room finally fell quiet as Neji figured out a way to explain the situation in layman terms. When he was ready to speak moments later, he straightened from his leaning position and began to pace calmly across the room.

"First of all, there has been word among our infiltration forces about Orochimaru's current body decaying. Seeing that he took no action up until this time, he was most probably waiting to possess Sasuke when he comes back to headquarters from Earth Country for the annual report. But when I killed Uesagi, Sasuke was forced to go back to Sound Country five months earlier than usual. According to our spies, Sasuke received a letter from Akatsuki ordering him to kill you."

He vaguely heard Naruto shift slightly, but his colorless eyes were busy staring at his moving feet, glazed over in deep thought.

_Have I got a long way to run?_

Neji continued on. "Most probably that was Kabuto who sent the assignment. He probably had hoped Sasuke would track you down in Konoha, hundreds of miles away from the Sound Country and from Orochimaru's hands. He then lied to his superior that Sasuke had gone without orders to revenge his partner by killing me. Furious that Sasuke had gone off without permission, Orochimaru sent Kabuto to kill me as his punishment and bring Sasuke back quickly. As a result—"

"Kabuto's dead and it's hard for Orochimaru to get Sasuke back because he's wandering around trying to kill me." Naruto was beginning to understand. "Kabuto thought that we'll kill Sasuke out of self-defense, which will make Orochimaru weak enough for someone to take him down."

"But Kabuto miscalculated. He had thought you would be in Konoha, but you are about to trespass Sound Country. Do you understand the situation now, Naruto? Orochimaru is after Sasuke, and he is going to find out sooner or later that Sasuke is after you. Once Orochimaru possesses Sasuke's body, he _will _come after you."

_Yeah…I run_

Naruto cracked a small sad smile. "Hah, no wonder Kakashi sent you. You're not a genius for nothing, Neji."

The hunter-nin snorted, "Someone has to be when the Hokage is not."

"Shaddup," the other groaned as he ruffled his blond head. Neji's smartass comments did not help make the situation any better.

"Not yet. I am here to know what is behind this purpose of yours, leaving Konoha in Kakashi's hands. Since your departure—"

"Everything's gone wrong," Naruto finished sourly. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I wish I could tell you everything, but I can't."

Neji halted suddenly in his pacing. He glanced back at Naruto, his silvery eyes intense and his voice low. "After fourteen years, Orochimaru is finally going to possess Sasuke's body. Sasuke wants to kill you. Leaving the village you are to protect, you run into the enemy's territory. Some of my clan and the anbu were killed by Kabuto, and we almost lost our clan leader. Sakura, your friend and my colleague, also suffered much injury. You have no choice but to explain."

Naruto averted his gaze and shifted uncomfortably on the couch. The Sixth Hokage was a keeper of many secrets. As loud and raucous as he was, he never boasted of the power he contained nor did he rarely mention that he was the container of the kyubi. As crude and guileless as he could be, Naruto never complained of the life he had been given. This was why he always had trouble voicing his concerns and troubles to other people because he believed that it was better to keep it to himself, that it would make him stronger if he never let anyone know how he really felt. To tell Neji of all people about his problems was difficult for Naruto.

_Have I got a long way to run?_

Their long silence permeated the room until the creamy blue color of the walls seemed to have turned stark from it, the atmosphere becoming bleak and barren as Naruto struggled to voice his intentions and fears. Neji gazed out the window as he waited for him to speak. The trees whispered outside the screened window, and its leaves, their written messages, were falling and floating to the floor.

"I never really had a choice," he said finally, his tone unusually dismal. "The Elder Council told me to go to Lightning Country to look for something because…because my seal's weakening, Neji, and I," he swallowed the sudden lump that formed in his throat, "if I don't destroy it, then Konoha'll—"

He buried his face into the sofa, hoping that Neji did not catch his momentary weakness.

_Have I got a long way to run?_

"Ha, I worked my ass off, becoming Hokage and all, and now the damn fox inside me is messing it all up," he joked halfheartedly. "In the end it doesn't even matter. Maybe I'm not really Hokage—maybe it's just an illusion. 'Cause this sure looks like this can't be real, but it is. Man, what's real isn't and what's not real is. Bah, the whole thing is all confusing and stupid."

Neji did not blink, the white purity of his eyes veiling the anger that was beginning to storm inside.  
"Indeed, nothing was ever a dream," he replied, "But no one can deny the truth of feelings."

"Hah, if I could trust what I feel! I'm scared of nothing at all, but the stupid thing is—" Naruto looked down, his voice dropping to a whisper, "I'm scared of what's inside."

Neji's hand clenched. "You fear to reveal the curse you were destined to hold? Fear to lose all you worked for?"

Naruto blinked, as if realizing what his friend meant, and slowly nodded. "…Yeah, that's right. Fear of fate."

_Yeah...I run._

The movement was too fast to see; Neji's hand shot out and seizing the collar of his friend's shirt, pulled him up by the collar until they were vis-à-vis. The teeming fury in his eyes seemed to seep out to suffuse the rest of his face as the Hyuga veins rose to the surface of his skin, his gaze pulsating with his gifted blood. The horrifying visage was the last image engraved in the terrified, wide-eyed stare of those he had killed. But Naruto refused to back down. As one of the few who lived through his anger, Naruto challenged Neji recklessly with an equally ferocious, almost bestial gaze.

"I do not care about the demon in you," the Hyuga genius snarled, "I do not care to hear of your cowardly fears and your responsibility. I do not—" he jerked Naruto's collar tighter about his neck, "—_fucking_ care if Konoha falls to ruin because of you. But if you are going to die with my one defeat on your hands, and if you are going to die caring about your damn destiny, then _I_ am no better than the worthless dust you will become. _That_ I care about. So if you want to kill yourself, you are going to have to kill me and my pride first. And I am _not_ planning to die because of an idiot like you anytime soon."

Neji shoved him back on the couch and turned away, the livid creases around his eyes smoothing down into his usual cold façade. As he strode to the door, Naruto's voice rang out from behind.

"Then I'll take your word for it, bastard; I'll kill you if you're gonna try and stop me. I'm not gonna let the demon destroy the Konoha. I'm not gonna let my people die."

Neji's expression remained unchanged as he slipped the mask back on. "Then fight it. Stop running away."

The door slammed and Naruto slunk back into the cushion, his angry sky blue eyes swiftly turning cloudy as one unbidden thought surfaced, unwelcome, into his mind.  
  
_Yeah...I run.

* * *

_

Thank you: to **Fierysable** for her thorough betareading, to **SxStrngSamurai13** for his wonderful support and beta help, to **Prime Minister** for giving me enough constructive criticism in his review that I delayed this chapter to improve it, and to **my sister** for working with my awkward sentence structure. 

To ALL reviewers: Danke, arigatou, gracias, grazie, she she, merci, obrigado, **THANK YOU**. I more than appreciate your feedback because it tells me that the revisions were much better than the original. I know this is pushing it, but please continue to give me your comments on this story for improvement and encouragement. And the usual: if you like it, please review! =)****


	4. Cancer Memoriam

Title: Amicitia

Author: Kenhime

Genre: Angst, Drama, and Action

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Who gets to be with whom? Well, that power is in Kishimoto's hands. The song "Grey Matter" by Finch doesn't belong to me either.

Warning: This is **strong NaruSakuSasu friendship, **and **includes profanity and violence**.

Author's Note: An apology for the month-long delay (this was my beta's fault ;). Do any of you play in the FFXI realm? If you do, you would know what my beta's been up to. This is the start of the development section. This means that for the next couple of chapters, you'll be seeing lots of flashbacks. **From here on out, it's going to definitely be Alternate Storyline **(though I was pleased the manga carried out my plot perfectly so far, mwehehehe)…****

Note to some readers: The Sadist, did you know how much I hugged the computer screen when you said Hinata and Neji were foils to the main characters? And _Kepelus_, what will I do without your reviews? ;) This chapter will serve you a fitting answer… By the way, yes, I did fix that error. Thanks!

Thank you: To my wonderful betas SxStrngSamurai13 and Fierysable! hugs And to my readers, gives them ALL a super hug you ALL make my day with what you say. Thank you.

Readers, ask me all the questions you want because it'll keep me on my toes when I write. And when you read it, you'll find that the answers are there…

Okay, okay, fine! I'll give you a hint. Had Sasuke really wanted to kill Naruto when he ambushed him? You'll find out in this chapter.

* * *

Chapter Four – Commemini Development: Cancer Memoriam

_Naruto's breath hitched as the acrid liquid flooded the insides of his mouth. He gingerly climbed out of the dent he had made in the tree, coughing out ruby drops that specked his orange jacket. He furiously wiped away the river of crimson running from his cracked lips with the back of his hand._

Bite the tongue__

_Like the belated thunder that followed the streaks of lightning, the subsequent shot of pain in his broken ribs caused him to double over. He did not have the strength to spit out a curse, let alone breathe. The ribs jutted into his lungs and he fought to stay conscious with the lack of oxygen. He had run headlong into the fight with a huge disadvantage, especially after having lost chakra fighting Orochimaru's cronies. The energy pool granted by the kyubi was hardly enough to power him against the likes of his opponent._

_He heard the slow footfalls of his rival and the infuriating clicks of his tongue, which served to push Naruto's anger further, even though he could not afford the luxury of being angry, given the situation he was in. In the dimness of his hazy vision, he could barely make out the monstrously distorted face that was dyed in deep crimson of the level two curse seal. Coils of foreboding, dark energy wrapped around Sasuke, whipping at nearby trees with its sheer force until they splintered and snapped in half._

To live with what you've done.__

_Sasuke tilted his head to the side, an amused smile twisting his lips as he watched Naruto struggle to stand._

_"You never know when to give up, don't you?" he asked, his mutilated and inhuman voice unnerving his old friend._

_"Idiot," snarled Naruto as he shakily pushed himself up, "Don't you remember I don't know how to?"_

_"Then you don't have to." _

_Naruto turned his head slowly at the three blades that whooshed pass him, the wires attached to it looping around him and binding him to the tree. The string tightened around him until it dug into his skin, pricking enough blood to earn a muffled cry of pain. His furious, shocked gaze locked with Sasuke's insidious eyes._

It's so good.

_"Even if you won't give up, you'll die anyway. You're so tired you can't even escape…you won't be able to escape from this." After three quick seals, the flesh of Sasuke's right hand expanded as lightning chakra was collected. The tainted violet energy cackled like the incessant chirping of a thousand birds, familiar knells the blond ninja thought he would never hear for himself._

_Naruto's eyes expanded, his cerulean pupils shrinking to dots._

_"Sa—"_

_Sasuke plunged the Chidori into his stomach._

It's so good

_The howl that followed was chiller than the October night, pricking the hairs on Sasuke's neck as his hand pushed further through Naruto's tattooed abdomen, and it soon pitched to a cacophonous screech that was both inhuman and puerile. Without flinching or pulling out his hand, Sasuke stared at the bleeding pale face, the dilated eyes that rolled over and hid its pupils, and the gaping mouth that had let loose the terrible sound. It seemed almost unfathomable that this boy was Naruto._

Lie to myself while I lie with myself.

_The shrieking ended. He slowly withdrew his hand from the boring hole he had created, the thick blood oozing down from between his fingers. Staring at the death in his hands, he impassively wondered how far he had gone into insanity. Was this how his brother killed his own best friend to obtain greater power? He had killed the boy his brother had sought to capture, the teammate who had saved Sakura and earned her grateful smile, and the rival who had surpassed him. These augmenting emotions of jealousy and hatred had drawn to a climax that then plummeted to an almost surreal conclusion of nothing. Would he feel the same emptiness at his brother's death? _

_He sucked in his breath when a swift shot of pain seared the backs of his eyes. As his eyelids became hot with chakra, he pressed five fingers to his forehead, too preoccupied to see the sudden movement._

_A bloodied hand seized his wrist._

It's Monday and it's raining.

_His shocked reddened eyes slowly traveled to Naruto's face, where the eyeballs in his sockets were still white. The moving hand tightened its grip around Sasuke's wrist enough to cause a startled cry of pain to escape his lips. If his head had not been aching under the Sharingan transformation, he would have shaken his head vehemently in terrified disbelief. He could have sworn it was an illusion—a genjutsu that had succeeded in eluding his Sharingan._

_Naruto's opened stomach glowed red with chakra as his exposed organs slipped back into its place inside the trembling body, seared tissue healing as quickly as it had been burnt by the lightning's heat. His blood that had pooled his insides gurgled as the veins and thin connective tissues reformed like the threads of life being re-sewn. The steam caused by chakra healing hissed as it left the swiftly repairing skin in its wake, and the disjointed black scrawls on his abdomen gradually molded together to make the swirl tattoo again. _

It's Sunday in the sun.

_Once it had completely healed, his chest began to heave in and out with circulation, his lungs hungry for air. Sasuke desperately tugged to free his hand from Naruto's death grip as beads of cold sweat trickled down his face and neck. There was something unworldly about Naruto's regeneration, and a fear consumed the Uchiha that was more terrifying than when he had fought Orochimaru those many months ago. Those once-dead eyes snapped shut; when it opened again, the pupils had returned. _

It's so good, but...

_They were ablaze in bestial, dark red._

_This time, it was Sasuke who screamed.

* * *

_

The stars whirled and twinkled mischievously in the black enigma that stretched from the horizon and beyond, as the nightly breezes swept over the village, tousling the wild blond locks of the star-watcher lying on the roof. With his crisscrossed hands making for a pillow (though he knew his arms would be numb by morning) and the cold tile roofs his bed (though it would do no wonders for his back), he closed his eyes and sighed contently, willing his mind to lay rest the burdens and concerns of the day. One night of repose was what he only asked for; then he would begin again his tiresome journey.

But no one ever listened to what Uzumaki Naruto wanted.

_Would it be so bad_

One lethargic eye opened, a side of his mouth curved slightly down in a frown at the shadow that drew over him intrusively. For someone who was shorter than even he, the ninja of the desert had quite an intimidating umbrage.

"Gaara."

Even in the dark, the sand ninja's eyes still glittered in lucid blue, a color so pure that it forced open the windows into the minds of anyone who came across such a pair of enthralling orbs. It was disconcerting at the very least.

"Instead of staring at me like that, why don't you sit down and watch the stars?" Naruto suggested languidly in hopes of avoiding the probing questions Gaara would most probably send his way.

The insomniac gave the suggestion a moment of grudging consideration, as he did not like the insecurity and immobility sitting down had, but he decided to entertain Naruto's request. Willing the sand to form a comfortable cushion (eyeing the slight discomfort Naruto had lying on the hard roofing), he took a seat and followed Naruto's gaze up at the skies. The stars, he noted absently, were imperturbable to the chaos that ruled below…

"So what brings you here to watch them?" he found himself asking quietly.

"Nothing really," was Naruto's offhanded response. "Why are you here?"

"I can't sleep."

The understatement sent Naruto rolling with laughter. It was not particularly funny, but with the tension mounting on his shoulders every day, anything that had a miniscule of hilarity in it was something to be laughed about.

_If you were to pretend that you were so happy?_

"Of course, of course…I forgot about that…" he grinned. "Well, you've got a buddy tonight, then. I can't sleep either."

"Hn."

"What? Am I that bad a companion?"

The sand ninja managed to still look pokerfaced. "I worry for my sanity."

"That wasn't fun—you never had a sense of _humor_ before!"

"That is _your_ undoing."

"True, everything _is_ my undoing, huh?" His careless grin was awfully ironic to Gaara.

_Keep it to yourself,_

"You're on the Road to Perdition and Everlasting Self-Pity. Congratulations."

"Shut up," Naruto grumbled. "I've had enough of that from Neji. And I don't need you—a foreigner—to tell me what to do. You don't know everything that's going on."

"True," Gaara replied coolly. "But I know you enough."

"What—"

"Uzumaki Naruto did not become the Sixth Hokage to die, did he?" He continued to speak tonelessly. "He didn't make sacrifices just to let it all go to waste, did he? If he did, then I am truly a demon."

Naruto snorted. "You are."

"Then so are you," was the brisk reply.

"Does it matter to you?"

A corner of Gaara's mouth barely lifted in an almost-smirk. "Does it matter that you need to die for your village?"

"Damn it! I—"

The sand jounin closed his eyes, feeling the breezes sweep his face. The sand scattered a little until the tiny rocks moved back to form his cushion again.

"You are the pillar of the Leaf, who'll die for the safety of your village…" he said slowly. "But have you ever thought of living for Konoha?"

"The Third and the Fourth died for the village," the blond ninja answered quietly, "Why shouldn't I? I don't have a choice."

"Why?" Gaara opened his eyes again.

_Don't let the secret go._

"Because I just don't," Naruto said exasperatedly. "Stop asking me questions. I'm sick and tired of explaining."

Teal eyes faintly glinting, Gaara waited a beat before saying nonchalantly, "Perhaps it has something to do with your seal weakening."

"How the hell did you know!? Weren't you wandering around the village for info?" The Hokage lifted his head to glare at him.

"I have my sources."

Naruto noticed how red Gaara's left eye was, a good indication that it had been out of its socket for some time and doing spying activity. He dropped his head back, muttering.

"Damn you and damn your freaky sand eye."

"Thank you for your charitable blessing," Gaara responded dryly.

"If you want another blessing, I don't mind clobbering you."

"One was enough." The sand ninja absently rubbed his left cheek. "Judging from the way your mouth moved, you were talking about saving the village by dying. Why is your seal weakening?"

What an easy question for Gaara to ask, and hard for Naruto to answer.

_If you were so willing.___

Rather than to verbally explain, Naruto sat up straight and lifted the hem of his shirt, revealing an obtrusive scar that jagged the swirls of the fading seal on his muscled stomach, the jagged brownish-red marks shaped like lightning bolts pointing to his belly-button. It had long since healed, but the streak it left was horrendous. Upon close inspection, Gaara recognized it as identical to the scar on his left shoulder.

"This is—"

"Know who did it?" asked Naruto as he covered his abdomen again.

"That was fourteen years ago, when we were sent to take him back…"

Naruto looked down, shaking his head slowly, before he brought his bitter eyes to meet Gaara's questioning gaze.

"He wanted to kill me. Sad, huh?"

Gaara turned his head away, grunting. Naruto's mouth curled as he said ruefully.

"But what's sadder…is that I almost killed him."

* * *

_The trees surrounding them disintegrated in the monstrous energy that was generating off of Naruto. Sasuke tried to shield his sensitive eyes from the long bangs that whipped at them as the winds grew stronger, air displaced by the sudden appearance of unnatural heat. The tour de force of Naruto's chakra easily surpassed his own curse seal. _

But let's pray for this suicide

_The Sharingan was not making the situation any easier. His vision had been divided into shards of images, a red-tinted kaleidoscope that was characteristic of the Mangekyou. It was difficult for his mind to process the light through his hurting, hot eyes. The abnormal amount of chakra running through his brain made his head feel light and constricting at once. The pain brought about by the alteration should be temporary._

_But as the kaleidoscope of fiery eyes stared back at him, nothing mattered to Sasuke anymore save for the one instinct that all earthly creatures naturally possessed in their minds one way or the other… _

_He wanted to live._

_Instead of repaying the raven-haired ninja the time he had given him to scream before death, Naruto unfairly hacked off the end of Sasuke's terrified cry by seizing his throat with a vein-bulging hand. The kyubi's incarnation swung his right fist forward to catch the raven-haired ninja across the left cheek. The force of the blow sent Sasuke flying into a tree…and into another tree behind it. Blood sprayed from the Uchiha's lips._

_A feral grin molded Naruto's thick-whiskered face into something unimaginably inhuman, sanguine skin folded and stretched around his flaring crimson eyes and canine-baring mouth. His eyes widened lustily at the sight of the thick life liquid running down the Uchiha's pallid face, watching it seductively roll down in swift rivulets of red._

_Blood. It had been long since the demon has shed it. The stupid boy never killed anyone, but who was to stop the kyubi now?_

Stop it, you—you damn fox!

_The demon-infused Naruto looked down in his abdomen, feeling the boy's soul unsettle in the pit of the seal. Demons needed no voice to speak; their communication laid in empathy._

_Stupid kid…his best friend tried to kill him and he still wanted to save the traitor?_

I…Sasuke would—he wouldn't…!

_It was because of the seal that Naruto was saved. It was because of the kyubi's power that he still existed. Naruto had no right to make the decisions in these circumstances. Let the demon fox devour the evil boy._

_The voice was weaker now. _Don't…don't you dare….

_The demon-controlling body crouched low in a ready stance._

_Dared to stop the strongest demon in the universe?_

_The soul-tingling coming from his stomach ceased._

_He lunged forward._

_Sasuke's incredulous eyes squinted, unable to comprehend the situation, the turning of tables. He lifted his quivering hand to touch the warm fluid flowing down and over his forehead, but when he caught the flicker of movement with his Sharingan, he tried instead to push himself up and away. However, he was not fast enough to dodge Naruto's savage grip again. He was pinned to the tree, struggling to get free while more blood gurgled up from his throat and out his mouth. Naruto looked almost amused._

_Sasuke stared at Naruto's free hand, pulled back and fingers tensely bent in a gripping pose. The ruby energy that had wrapped around his thickened fingers gathered at the center of his palm, circling faster and faster as more energy was amassed for the jutsu Naruto was about to do. Sasuke had only seen it once, and once was enough for him to recognize what damage it could do once Naruto would smash it through his skull._

_"Try escaping from _this_," Naruto snarled with a deep voice that was gruesomely jarring and beastly. _

_It was at this untimely moment for Sasuke to chuckle, but the irony was just too much. The play was being repeated once again, except now the roles have been switched. Except…he would really die. He had nothing that would heal him like Naruto did._

_Unfortunate how Naruto actually lived the Chidori. Unfortunate how he was unable to kill his brother. It was all misfortune how everything came about, anyway…_

And all these pictures falling down around me

_Howling, Naruto drove the Rasengan down. The blood splattered and the wood splintered from the impact. As the energy dissipated and the whistling of circling chakra faded away, the forest grew silent again._

_And yet, as he continued to stare into a pair of bloody brown eyes, Sasuke still heard himself breathe._

_The wind spiral had drilled a wide hole into the tree beside Sasuke's raven head, and the close proximity of the wind energy had disturbed the river of blood coming down his temple. The hold on his neck gradually loosened. Stands of his slick dark bangs struck his ashen cheeks with Naruto's each breath. A tortured sigh escaped from the blond as he bent his head tiredly over Sasuke's shoulder. His voice was strangled and hoarse, but it had returned to its boyish tenor._

_"I…I made a promise, Sasuke…a lifetime promise to her. Did you know…?"_

I've surrounded myself with all I have inside.

* * *

Blinking away the memories that had invaded his vision, Naruto looked to Gaara and was answered with silence. The Hokage flopped down on the tiles and cradled his head in his arms again.

"I've almost died twice and because of the kyubi, I've survived twice. But the near-death experiences have weakened me enough to widen the leak on the seal. For the past fourteen years, the crack's been growing and it won't be long until it breaks."

Gaara scoffed. "Not enough willpower to hold it in, have you?"

"Stupid," Naruto shot back, "how could I have not enough!? I've slowed down the process, but I can't avoid it any longer. No matter how determined I am to retain the kyubi, the truth is my strength is getting sucked up by it. The more I fight, the more I realize how much I'm depending on the stupid fox. I've gotta stop it."

"So you leave your jurisdiction to travel up north to secluded Lightning Country…?"

"Kakashi's temporarily in control until Konohamaru takes succession," the Hokage explained slowly. "And I'm in search of someone in Lightning, who might have an inkling of how to seal it back..."

"In exchange for your life, isn't it?" Limpid teal eyes glanced beside at Naruto, whose face was hardly visible in the dark. But the highly-perceptive gaze could see the gloom that had dampened the blond's usually jocose countenance.

Naruto never replied, but his aberrant silence was more than enough of an answer.

* * *

_Neji__ strode through the halls of the Department of Defense, his steady footfalls as quiet as the leaves that hit the ground in soft pats. Although back in the safe administration buildings of Konoha, he walked noiselessly. Perhaps it was because he did not want anyone to be aware of his presence or know he had a new assignment. Perhaps it was a natural inclination of his to walk in such a way. Would he care to know?_

_Behind his expressionless façade lurked the troubling feeling of apprehension that centered on his former anbu captain of the hunter-nin division. His anbu leader had been recently promoted to Commander of Military Defense, in which consequently released Neji from subordinate duty and allowed him to perform missions independently. However, as second only to the Sixth Hokage and Elder Council, the Commander had the authority to call upon any ninja for missions directly related to the village's security. In any case, what the hunter-nin on solo duty had anything to do with the defense forces puzzled him. _

_Almost._

_He suspected __Nara__ Shikamaru had ulterior motives, and he suspected that he himself knew exactly what they were. And yet, somehow, Neji had no scruples about it._

Would I bite my tongue?

_His eyes momentarily caught the name plaque beside the door as he placed his hand on the cool metal knob and twisted it to open the door. When he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, he made a straight military stance, waiting for his new task from the Commander, who stood gazing out the window._

_Shikamaru turned away from the small back window to face his old teammate with something much less than enthusiasm (that was to be expected) or even indolence (which was perturbing). For once, the sleep-loving, lazy man showed symptoms of insomnia and anxiety, his worn eyes drawing dark circles around them and his face unshaved. He gestured to Neji to take a seat and was politely declined, although he had known already that the taciturn ninja never sat down in briefings. Slumping down his chair, Shikamaru dropped his head on the cluttered oak desk and moaned._

And live with what you've done?

_"You look like…" As he took off his mask, Neji searched for a word. "Hell."_

_"Gee, thanks," Shikamaru mumbled, voice muffled by stacks of paper. "I've never been so overworked in my life. I was supposed to retire by now, but the idiot just _had _to give me a promotion. What did I do to deserve this??"_

_The Hyuga did not bother to reply. "Where is my mission?"_

_His face still buried in paper, the pineapple-headed Commander felt around for the black envelope. "Ah, found it." He tossed it to the hunter-nin, who took it and opened it. Shikamaru listened for any reaction as Neji unfolded the paper and read._

_"……"_

Just continue sleeping?

_The silence prodded Shikamaru to lift his head and ask, "Well?"_

_"You are in charge of the defense forces, yet you give me an assassination assignment," Neji narrowed his silvery eyes. "Are you aware that you might get court-martialed for abusing your authority?"_

_"Tch, court-martialed? This order came straight from the Elder Council," drawled Shikamaru. "The geezers were scared out of their wits when they got a telegram from Naruto saying that they were ambushed and needed a medic. So they're gonna send you to act as a guard accompanying Shizune there. But you needa finish your real objective before you return."_

_"Does Kakashi know about this?"_

_"Nope; won't find out until another two days. The old folks don't want him knowing that they're planning to kill his student. Naruto doesn't know either." Shikamaru pushed himself off the desktop and stared at him hard. "Do you think you can do it?"_

_"Do not doubt me."_

_He sighed. "I'm not. Just asking, that's all." As he absently massaged his neck, eyes looking blankly down, he added offhandedly, "'Cause I don't know what to think."_

_"Was it not what you wanted?" Neji dropped the letter back on the desk. _

Selfishly consumed with everything you've wrought.

_"Yes…and no. I don't know," Shikamaru admitted as he grabbed the letter, gazing at the one name written for death. _

_"I mean," he continued, "I've went this far, waiting for this day to come. But when it comes down to it, with all the stress, all the troubles, there's no point. This has been troublesome from the beginning."_

_What an understatement, Neji thought. Snorting derisively, the hunter-nin replaced his mask. _

_"Is there anything else I need to know?"_

_"Yeah…" The Commander said slowly, crossing his arms. "Sakura was with Naruto when they were ambushed. She's in coma right now, but she's the only one of Naruto's bodyguards who survived. Naruto never mentioned it, but it's not that hard to figure out what had happened. Just keep that in mind. She was our teammate, after all."_

_There was a pause of consideration before, "Understood." ****_

There's nothing I can do.

* * *

Time had marked the birth of the new moon. In these darkest hours, the forest held an ethereal tranquility that belied the turmoil surrounding the human dwellers that night.

Neji absently fingered his katana that rested on his shoulder as he leaned back on the tree. Across from him, Shizune huddled in her blanket as she gazed at her guard, watching his features grow more livid and scarier until it could have looked like he could skewer an innocent rabbit with just his face.

No…make that a bear.

Her eyebrow twitched as she tried hard to stifle her laugh at the image. Nevertheless, the hunter-nin noticed and shot a wary glance at her.

"What?"

Shizune managed to school her expression into that of nonchalance.

"Nothing."

"I will have you know that we will be moving again in the next hour," he said severely. "I suggest you sleep for the time being."

"When an anbu's glaring kunais at me like that? I hardly can," she muttered. It made no sense to her. She was the senior of the two, the medical director of Konoha and his doctor _for goodness's sake_. And _he_ suggestedthat _she _shouldsleep? It took much effort to keep herself from scoffing. Kids, these days! They had no respect for the older, more experienced ninjas.

"Something's bothering you. You've been more unbearable since we've left the hospital," she commented lightly instead.

"Brilliant observation," Neji replied flatly. "But I bear much more than you think."

"Everyone has their own burdens to bear, not only you." She laid her head back on the tree trunk, smiling softly. "Really, if things could've been easy..."

Neji was about to reply when a warning flare of chakra took over his senses, a vile, tainted energy that he recognized immediately. His brows furrowed as energy began to fluctuate and weaken. Shizune stiffened at the chilly sensation of the intruding energy, for there was something uncannily familiar about it, something that reminded her quite immediately of a certain serpentine sage… But it was beginning to taper off. She shot a glance of askance at her guard, but Neji had already gone to track the intruder. Frowning, she began to maneuver quickly to catch up to him.

* * *

_"I…I made a promise, Sasuke…a lifetime promise to her. Did you know…?"_

_Sasuke blinked. "No."_

_Without breaking his fatigued gaze on his rival, the blond ninja quietly pulled his fist out of the puncture he had made and drew back. He then raised his head to the orange skies that were framed by the tall pines, watching—feeling—for a moment the cooling breeze of the afternoon. Cerulean seeped into the irises of his eyes until finally the color was completely back to its bluish state. _

_Sasuke watched his old friend stand still in the ring of sunset light, curiously fascinated by how the sun seemed to strike his blond hair in such a way that it turned into a golden halo. He glanced down with his brows furrowed and lips curled up in disgust with himself. How pathetic it was for the Uchiha to notice inane things like that. It was then that he saw his own hand, which rested near his side. Pale, cracked and bleeding…but all pale nonetheless. He finally touched his white, unmarked cheek._

But let's pray for this suicide.  
  
_A chuckle drifted to his ears and he looked in Naruto's direction. The idiot was shaking his head to himself, smiling wryly. _

_"Of course you wouldn't have known…" _

_"…Naruto?"_

_"Because you weren't there. You were never there, Sasuke. Only I was…except she never chose me. But you know, I didn't come back for you just because of her. I came back to settle what we never finished, or at least continue what we shared. I didn't want it to end like this."_

_Naruto's hands trembled at his sides…_

_"After all we've been through, you're just gonna throw it all away? So—so you could become a monster?" He gestured at his seal, his whiskered cheeks, his eyes, and his fist. "You want this?! You saw what I could've done to you. I could've _killed _you. This isn't power, Sasuke; it's _hell.

And all these pictures falling down.  
  
_"You've always been the prodigy, the one everyone liked, the top of his class, the one the boys respected, the girls liked. For all you cared, you could've pissed on everybody and still be admired. Well guess what? You can't do that to me because I hate your stinking ass!" he spat out furiously. "Everyone despised me for the demon I held. They all thought I was stupid, that I didn't give a damn and that I was a good-for-nothing. For all they cared, I could've saved the Hokage and still be hated! But you know what sucks the most?"_

_"Do you know what sucks the most?" he shouted. _

_Hearing no reply, he pivoted away from Sasuke, wrenching his blonde hair and feeling the urge to scream. But he inhaled and exhaled deeply to ease his frustration until finally, he dropped his hands to his sides to carry on with his tortured tirade._

_His voice was soft, almost choking. "That you saved me; that you called me your teammate. That you thought I was strong. And…And that's all that mattered. Because as much as I hated you, I wanted to be like you. That I could be acknowledged by you. That there could this minute possibility that you'd be my closest and most hated friend. Does it make any difference that I'm a monster or you're the last of your clan? Should this stop us from reaching the top together? Because I know how it feels like to have this power. It leaves you isolated, hated, angry…insane. Tell me, Sasuke, if this is what you want. And I'll tell you, no matter the answer, that I _will_ bring you back, no matter how long it takes. Because it's a lifetime promise…and I never go back on my word."_

One wish full, step to the side.

_His chest rose up and down as he recovered his breath from the long tirade. The tingling red chakra had yet to recede from his body, and its therapeutic warmth soothed the riled up feelings within him until he was calm again.  
_  
_Sasuke's shoulders shook with faint laughter. A genuine, raw laugh, far from Orochimaru's malicious cackles._

_"What?" Naruto asked, annoyed._

_"I almost kill you," Sasuke answered between chuckles, "and you can still babble on and on like an idiot. You'll never change."_

_The blond frowned and with a humph, looked away._

_The Uchiha picked himself up from the floor, feeling incredibly weary and barren inside. He did not like this cold fatigue, stripped of the surging hot power that ran in his veins when he used his curse seal. It was just like their rivalry: intense to the point that it wore the both of them out. He was tired of it._

_"…So what now?" asked the blond, hesitant yet hopeful._

And please just let me know...

_"Nothing. There was never a 'now' for me, Naruto," Sasuke wiped the blood from his lips. "I can't go back because this was what I've always wanted. Because I _chose _to do this."_

_"So _we_ mean nothing to you?"_

Are you happy?  
  
_Naruto was expressionless, but the hurt was evident in the question._

_"You are something," the raven-haired ninja responded truthfully. "You made me believe that for just one year— one moment—in my life, everything was all right. In those days, with you and Sakura, I saw my future and enjoyed the present. But nothing will be right until I reclaim my past."_

_Never had Naruto heard something so honest come out of his usually enigmatic teammate. The fight and their near-deaths had made them oddly candid in their words, a sincerity that was sorely needed after their heated emotions burnt out. _

_"And if you do? Will you come back?" Naruto asked after a long moment._

_Sasuke snorted faintly. "By that time, the curse seal has taken full control of me. It's bound to kill me someday. The only way you can bring me back is if you kill me and take my corpse back home to be buried with the rest of the clan." _

I'll decide.  
  
_The reality of Sasuke's decision finally sank in for Naruto. _

_Uchiha Sasuke…dying? The infallible Uchiha prodigy. The irritating, arrogant, callous bastard. The constant, admittedly-always-there-to-save-Naruto's-butt teammate was going to die sooner or later?_

_There had to be another way to bring him back._

_But until then… Naruto understood, to a point, that his teammate had a goal to fulfill. Sasuke _knew _what he was doing, and he knew of the consequences. Even when Naruto knew his friend would fall into the darkness, his mind twisted by the Orochimaru's malevolence, suffering through the madness of his solitude, and screaming for a salvation that would not appear…_

These stories are so old,

_"I'll still take you back after," Naruto raised a determined fist, defiant of Sasuke's foreboding future. "Because no matter where we go, we're still who we are. And a promise is a promise."_

_The fiery conviction of the village's number one loudest ninja returned to those cerulean eyes. It was a foolish confidence, and Sasuke had always scoffed at it before. But oddly, a rare smile slowly graced the Uchiha's lips as he looked at his best friend with charcoal eyes. A small contrite smile._

_"You total moron…"_

How they match your eyes.

* * *

Sasuke trudged onward, one stumbling step after another. His vision swirled and blurred, eyes ceaselessly closing and opening, turning red and then black…red, black, red…black. Things he saw that felt tangible in one moment were transparent in the next, and feelings he felt seemed to discolor his surroundings in hues of blue, pink, and orange. Everything was blue, pink, and orange now.

_Are you happy?  
  
_The searing pain of the curse seal shook him with a jolt and he leaned a hand against to tree to steady himself. Gasping and trembling, he attempted to push the curse seal back into the original seal Kakashi gave him, but it seemed as if he had already used up all of his willpower in his last fight. He let the curse seal unravel and scrawl across the surface of his skin, smoldering and consuming him with its empty power. He would have welcomed it before, when his stamina was still left intact and he was still a—

_/When you were dead./___

Alive. He shut his eyes as if it would expel the unrelenting voices. He gritted his teeth. No, when he was truly alive.

_I'll decide._

His usually indomitable expression now contorting under the agony, he slammed himself fully against the tree and slid down to the floor. Why was the curse seal hurting so much? His chakra pool should have been replenished; he had rested and taken the medicine earlier that day. He sunk his teeth into his cracked lower lip to keep himself from crying out. This pervading pain was nothing like before…no; perhaps it was reminiscent of the time when he first received the seal—

_/When you first died./___

_These stories are so old,  
  
_He bent over and then abruptly twisted to the side, his throbbing head hitting the floor. He writhed to keep himself from thrashing about and worsening the excruciating feeling. The pain built up to the point that his senses were numb; then the body began to systematically shut down. The heart that was beating erratically before had now slowed considerably down to exhausted, small thumps. His unsettling, constantly changing eyes glazed over…

_How they match your eyes._

Was this how death felt like? So peaceful…just like that time when he almost died saving Naruto, when he still had his dreams with him, his friends with him, his life with him. There were no voices, no more pain, no more emptiness.

Death…felt nice.

Even when that total moron had failed to bring him home…

_"……Uchiha Sasuke…?!"_

_But let's pray for this suicide _

And he imagined himself tipping, arms spread out in welcome, over the brink of consciousness.

_"Stop it, Neji! I need to save him, let me go!"_

As he fell through the abyss, the greeting white light flashed into his eyes.

_"I have been ordered to kill him. It is better he dies this way!"_

_And all these pictures falling down_

He saw the images of his family.

_"We can't let him die! I can't! Damn it, let go of me!"_

Of his mother, smiling at him beautifully as she once had.

_"He is a threat to the safety of Konoha, and tried to kill the Hokage. His death is well deserved, Shizune-san."_

Of his father, his gruff face showing pride as he had once imagined.

_"Why did Haruno-san live then? Why was she the only one of the decoys to survive? Why was he mumbling Naruto's name to himself? He doesn't deserve this, Neji—he has to live!"_

Of his brother, his eyes ever so worn and kind as they once were.

_"Don't do this, Neji. Please, let me go!"_

_One wish full, step to the side_

Of his teacher, his one heavy-lidded eye constantly watchful as it once was.

_"I can't feel his pulse. Don't just stand there, you dolt! Go get some water! I swear, useless hunter-nins…"_

Of his teammate, her expression pleading and hopeful like it used to be.

_"One…two…three!__ Come on, you can do it! One…two…"_

Of his best friend, grinning idiotically like he always did.

_And pick these pictures from the ground that surround me****_

_"Three! Breathe, will you!? Come on, breathe! One…two…"_

Of himself, smirking confidently as he…

_"Live! Just live! Live for goodness's sake! Please! One…two…two and a half…"_

As he…

_"Three! Breathing…he's breathing!"_

Always would.

* * *

To be continued...


End file.
